This 20,000-student institution is located on the coast of China in Shandong Province, about an hour and 15 minute flight south of Beijing. The city itself (nearly 7,000,000 metropolitan area) is extremely beautiful and the only non-Beijing Olympic venue (will be handling the sailing events), which obviously shows the regard in which the city is held by the central government. There are currently two campuses with more than 1700 acres, 1500 faculty, and a huge library with more than 800,000 volumes. An entirely new third campus, to be built over the next three years, will increase enrollment by another 50 percent.

Wentworth's visit followed an initial February visit that Qingdao President Yi Ghuijie and his group made to Wentworth, at which time a general memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the school was signed. The mission was for Wentworth to measure the school programs, people, facilities and other factors as to the desirability to move to an agreement and proceed with exchanges. Qingdao Tech passed admirably on all counts and the next stage of agreement with them was finalized, subject to selected specific programs on which to advance and financial justification for doing so.

The area of study for Wentworth to move ahead with student and faculty exchanges, perhaps as early as 2007, will be in the area of architecture and architectural engineering technology. Qingdao Tech has just completed a new architecture building with state-of-the-art labs. They also have, in a separate new space, their own private architectural institute, which is a profit-making venture that provides a steady job flow for its graduates. Civil engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, and industrial design are just a few of the many other programs that match nicely with Wentworth and could become future exchanges.

Wentworth's computer science Associate Professor Hongsheng Wu was helpful in all arrangements and accompanied the Wentworth delegation from the Beijing Expo.

Other key visits included a tour of the Haier Group, now the world's second largest producer of consumer white-good appliances. Haier America Industrial Park is located in Camden, South Carolina. This $40 million, 110 acre property is the home of Haier's groundbreaking state-of-the-art refrigerator facility and could provide an interesting co-op experience for Wentworth students. The Vice President of China was also visiting at the Haier Group whilst the Wentworth delegation was there.

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