US art schools interested in China programs

An art school in California is teaming up with a Chinese counterpart to foster student and faculty exchange in an initiative the US school's president says will help it grow globally.

Ventura, California-based Brooks Institute, known for its photography and film programs, announced in early December that it signed an agreement with the Beijing Institute of Graphic Communications that will allow Chinese students to attend the school.

The students will pay approximately $20,000 a year for tuition for either Brooks' undergraduate or graduate programs, according to Brooks' president Edward Clift.

Faculty from both schools will visit the other institution to teach courses, students will be given certificates for completion of courses.

"There's a shift. We live in a global creative economy. It's more important now than ever for college students to graduate with skills that allow them to be entrepreneurial, creative, and really visualize the world around them," Clift told China Daily.

"Creative skills we teach encourage that way of thinking, not to mention the fact that media is really becoming - or already is - one of the largest sectors of the economy, so if you can get a good education and strong foundation, then you have a good chance of success in that kind of global economy," he said.

The school has only half a dozen students from China, but Clift said he hopes the new program will increase that number to about 60 to 100. Thie exchange is part of a larger push by Brooks Institute to increase its international student population to around 300 to 400, he added.

"The media industry has really gone global and to be a successful filmmaker or photographer, you need to think and work all over the world," Clift said. "I think for Brooks, we're already pretty well-known internationally, so this allows us to really grow both our impact in the world as well as really meet demand, because there's really demand in the rest of the world for what we teach."

Brooks Institute is not the only US art college that is seeing increasing interest from Chinese art students. The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is one of the country's most competitive art and design schools, currently has about 200 Chinese students enrolled, or about 28 percent of its international student population.

"These students bring a wealth of cultural knowledge about their home country, and global experiences, to RISD studios and classrooms every day," said Gwen Farrelly, head of RISD Global. "In addition to our degree program students from China, the school - through the efforts of its faculty, academic departments, and the RISD Global office - is actively developing and deepening relations with art and design schools, and colleagues, in China."

Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, has seen its Chinese student population increase almost four-fold in the past four years, growing from 98 in 2011 to 469 in 2015, the school said.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com