In Boston, the heart of the US' most dynamic education hub, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC) launched its new center on Thursday.

The occasion signaled another people-to-people effort to foster educational and academic exchange amid ongoing tension between China and the United States.

The UIC Boston Center, which houses the Institute of Life and Art, the Whitehead Research Center, and the UIC American Alumni Association, aims to enhance academic exchange, research collaboration, and student opportunities between UIC and institutions in the US, according to a UIC news release.

"Boston is an academic center with a rich intellectual history," Chen Zhi, president of UIC, said during the opening ceremony. "This center will enable UIC to build stronger ties with institutions here and provide more opportunities for students and faculty to engage in academic collaborations.

Founded in 2005, UIC is the first college on the Chinese mainland to focus on liberal arts education. It is also the first higher education institution co-founded by the mainland and Hong Kong. Its main campus is located in Zhuhai, in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, US-China higher education exchanges have seen significant shifts.

According to the 2023 Open Door Report, the number of Chinese students in the US dropped from a peak of 372,532 in 2019-2020, to 289,525 in 2022-2023.

The decline in American students in China has been even more drastic, plummeting from 11,639 in 2018-2019 to just 211 by 2021-2022, largely due to pandemic restrictions and geopolitical tensions.

The US embassy in China now reports a slight recovery, with approximately 700 American students currently studying there.

There are indeed some misunderstandings and obstacles at present between China and the US, said Chen. "However, this makes initiatives like ours even more significant. Academic research and higher education exchanges play a crucial role in eliminating unnecessary misunderstandings," Chen told China Daily.

He noted that UIC is highly international. "We have many foreign faculty members, with a significant portion coming from the US. Many of them earned their degrees or worked in the US before joining us.

"This background greatly facilitates mutual understanding, academic exchange, and higher education collaboration. One of our goals is to attract top scholars — both established and emerging talents with experience in the US — to join our institution," he said. At the same time, we hope to enroll more students from the US to study with us.

Eugene Wang, a Rockefeller professor of Asian art at Harvard University and the co-director of UIC Boston Center, said he hopes to move beyond bilateral thinking toward a global exchange of ideas.

"It's not just about the US and China. At the end of the day, it's about civilization as a whole — about our entire world. Any national boundary is limiting," he told China Daily.

"Rather than seeing this center simply as a platform for US-China dialogue, I see it as a third space — one that is not beholden to either system but has a life of its own. It aims to transcend national boundaries and pursue art, science and truth in ways that are universally meaningful," Wang said. "Naturally, when something aspires to speak to all of humanity rather than being confined by national divisions, its significance becomes clear to both sides."

Yu Yougen, education counselor for the Chinese Consulate General in New York, also sent his congratulations to the center.

"Boston, as a global hub of higher education, attracts top faculty, researchers and students, making it the ideal location for this center — not just for its space but also for its rich academic and human resources," Yu said.

"I believe you have chosen the best place to establish this center, which will serve as a vital link between universities and higher education communities in mainland China, Hong Kong, and the United States."

The opening also saw the signing of memoranda of understanding with two prominent US universities in Boston — Northeastern University in Boston and Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The agreements will facilitate academic exchange, joint research projects and internships, strengthening ties between UIC and these institutions.

minluzhang@chinadailyusa.com