Broadening Our Reach The world’s most populous nation has become home to The Chicago School’s first international presence. Located in Shanghai, the new China Office works to recruit Chinese students to our campuses in the states, and forges ties with Chinese universities that can offer mutual benefits and expand the role that professional psychology plays in an increasingly global society.

Yanjun Weng, whose international education company develops higher education partnerships spanning the globe, serves as the office’s Chief Representative, working to coordinate international recruitment and study-abroad opportunities, faculty and student exchanges, and the creation of joint degree and certificate programs.

“Five years from now, I would like The Chicago School to be recognized as the best name in psychology education in China,” Weng says, adding that his anticipation of success is based on the school’s innovative culture.

Collaboration with Fudan University, consistently ranked as one of Asia’s leading universities, represents The Chicago School’s first official partnership in China. Students from both institutions have already taken advantage of exchange opportunities, sharing perspectives on how psychology is practiced in their respective countries. Similar relationships are being developed with Zhejiang University and Jiangxi Normal.

Most recently, six students from The Chicago School’s Business Psy.D. program completed a two-week education and cultural immersion experience in Shanghai, where they explored organizational psychology from an international perspective. A highlight of their trip was a visit to the Shanghai Futures Exchange, where they gave a presentation to employees on business process re-engineering and discussed ways to use business psychology to increase efficiency at the exchange.

According to Weng, such collaborations hold enormous potential for improving the professional practice of psychology in China. Because the Ministry of Labor oversees all professional training programs for psychologists and counselors, Yanjun says, there is no reliable means of accrediting programs or licensing counselors. He adds that he hopes that increased collaboration between the East and the West will address this problem.

“We will use a lot of creativity to customize our programs to address cultural differences and to meet the need for psychologists in China,” Weng says.

The school’s international efforts are not limited to China, or even to Asia. Initiatives are also underway to develop other global educational opportunities for students and faculty. Summer 2008 saw Chicago School groups travel to the Czech Republic, where Forensic Psychology students attended a week-long Summer School of Crime, Law, and Psychology in Prague, and to Germany, where Clinical Psy.D. students attended the European Summer Academy in Nuremberg. That trip was supported by a grant The Chicago School received from the German Academic Exchange Program.