Juilliard Looks East With Plans For Tianjin Campus

Juilliard School Founded In New York In 1905 The latest example of a prestigious Western institution setting up a satellite in China, this week New York's Juilliard School of performing arts signed a framework agreement to set up an educational offshoot in the Yujiapu financial district of Tianjin. The Tianjin campus will mark the first time Juilliard has opened a location outside of New York, and is expected to be the institute's only extension in Asia as well as the only exam center in the region for Juilliard applicant interviews. As part of the framework agreement signed this week, Juilliard is currently involved in a feasibility study, the results of which will be released in September. As Juilliard president Joseph Polisi said this week at the signing ceremony in Tianjin, "We envision the institute will be an elite center for performing arts education serving all of East Asia, a destination for all performing artists worldwide." According to Xinhua, the 107-year-old private conservatory, which offers programs in New York through its divisions of dance, drama, and music, has yet to decide which programs to bring to China. At the moment, Juilliard is planning to create "non-accredited music programs at pre-college levels (ages 8-18), as well as specialized pre-professional training for conservatory graduates." Assuming a green-light from the feasibility study, Juilliard will be one of many top American institutions looking to tap demand among Chinese students for a more international study experience, while giving US-based students and professors a chance to work more closely with their Chinese counterparts. Recently, Stanford University put the finishing touches on its new US$7 million Stanford Center at Peking University in Beijing, a 36,000-square-foot, three-level complex that will offer lectures and research opportunities but not degrees. Next month, UC Berkeley's College of Engineering is set to open its own 50,000-square-foot research and educational facility in Shanghai's Zhangjiang High-Tech Park. Other major universities that have, in recent years, ventured to China include New York University, which operates a degree-granting, liberal arts campus in Shanghai, Columbia University, which has a center in Beijing, and Johns Hopkins University, which has one in Nanjing. Next year, Duke University is expected to join in as well, opening a location in Kunshan that will offer two degree programs.

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Juilliard Looks East With Plans For Tianjin Campus