SAN DIEGO, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- A contingent of San Diego State University officials led by President Stephen L. Weber will travel to Cuba for a January 20 signing ceremony that will create an historic university exchange program with the University of Havana.
While other American universities send students to Cuba for short study tours, the SDSU exchange will be the first to allow students to stay for a semester or a full year to study Cuban culture, language and business practices by attending regular classes at the University of Havana.
"The exchange program offers many rich educational opportunities for our students and faculty in business, sciences and the arts," Weber said. "To be a partner in this historic agreement in international education is gratifying for San Diego State University because relations
between the United States and Cuba have been virtually non-existent for 40 years. We hope that education, which is really about sharing ideas, can be a bridge to enhanced understanding and cooperation between our two countries."
More than a dozen U.S. universities have sent students to Cuba since a 1995 agreement between the two countries allowed exchange programs; however, those programs were very short, lasting only a few weeks. The SDSU students will be fully integrated into Cuban university life, living with their
peers in dormitories or in private homes.
SDSU is expecting to send three students to Cuba this spring and as many as 30 by fall 2000. The students must speak Spanish and will be immersed in Cuban culture, take the same classes, be involved in the same activities and live in the same dorms as Cuban students. Cuban students may come to
SDSU as early as next fall, according to Steven J. Loughrin-Sacco, who is managing the program in his role as co-director of SDSU's Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER).
"We are breaking new ground with this exchange program, giving our students a chance to experience and study a culture that has been inaccessible to Americans," Loughrin-Sacco said. "The exchange program is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about a nation that is at the same
time our neighbor and a stranger."
San Diego State University is the second largest higher education institution in California offering bachelor's degrees in 76 areas, master's degrees in 58 areas and doctorates in 11.
SOURCE San Diego State University
CO: San Diego State University; University of Havana
ST: California
IN: EDU
SU:
01/12/2000 10:00 EST http://www.prnewswire.com |