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Kao, Waltonsmith join college contingent on trip to China

By Jason Sweeney

The West-Valley Mission Community College District sent a delegation to Szechwan Province in China in an attempt to recruit Chinese students. Vice Mayor Aileen Kao and Councilwoman Ann Waltonsmith accompanied the delegation in support of the college district and to research possible sister cities for Saratoga.

The delegation left on March 17 and returned on March 26. It was paid for with funds allocated from the college district's budget for increasing enrollment, with an emphasis on foreign students. Kao and Waltonsmith paid their own way.

"Aileen and I went to support our school and our district to see if they could establish some long-term working relationships with schools and cities in China," Waltonsmith said. She said they were able to meet with the mayor and vice mayor of the city of Mianyang and with province officials.

"The people were just lovely," Waltonsmith said. "They would come up to us on the street and want to talk to us in English. They couldn't be more gracious. They want commerce, they want contact and they want to be involved in the world."

Stan Arterberry, the chancellor of the West Valley-Mission Community College District, said this was his first trip to China. "I was totally impressed with the country," he said. He described China as a country under construction with a rapidly emerging middle class. "The whole purpose of the trip was to see if we can develop relationships with China. We have some great potential to develop relationships with the two educational institutions that we dealt with."

Arterberry led a delegation that included district trustees Jeff Schwartz and Chris Constantine, West Valley College International Student counselor Wanda Wong and director of the International Student Center at Mission College, Carol Qazi.

Arterberry and his delegation met with representatives from the Szechwan International Studies department at University Chengdu College and with the Mianyang Bureau of Education of China. Arterberry said two of the main reasons the district chose these two institutions was because no other American universities have yet established themselves there, and because Aileen Kao's husband, Chiiming Kao, has several contacts there. Arterberry described Chiiming Kao as a friend of West Valley Community College and said he played a major role in organizing the trip. Chiiming Kao and other spouses of delegation members paid their own way to accompany the delegation on the trip, Arterberry said.

"We're trying to tap into the emerging middle class in China," Arterberry said. He said not only is the district looking to increase enrollment from China, but he hopes to establish student and faculty exchanges. "We're trying to look at the whole gamut of possibilities."

Board of trustees member Jack Lucas did not go on the trip. "We're looking to increase our enrollment," he said. "All our community colleges are declining in enrollment. When we experience a decline, we lose funding. Our state funding is based on baseline enrollment and any increase from that baseline."