New Haven, Conn. — Yale University announced today
that Yale and China’s flagship university, Peking University, are
launching a distinctive joint undergraduate program where Yale College
students and honor students at Peking University will study and live
together on the campus in Beijing. President Richard C. Levin was in
Beijing last weekend to sign the agreement for the program. The program
begins next fall.

“I am delighted that Yale College students will have this special
opportunity for an integrated living and learning experience with
outstanding Chinese students at Peking University,” Levin said. “Those
who will lead our two countries need to understand one another.”

Yale College students selected for the program will take a full
course load taught in English by Yale and Peking University faculty and
receive full Yale credit toward their degrees. The program is open to
students with no Chinese language skills as well as to students who
speak Chinese. All Yale students will study Chinese language as part of
the program.

Twenty Yale College students will live in a new residence hall for
Chinese students on the Peking University campus with 20 honor students
from Peking University, making them the only U.S. group of students to
live with the University’s Chinese students.

Students in the program will spend a semester in China. The program
is open to all sophomores and juniors and to first-semester seniors.
Yale students, including those on financial aid, will pay the same
tuition and room fees they would pay if they were studying at Yale and
airfare between New York and Beijing will be included.

The Chinese students living with their Yale counterparts will be
members of the Yuanpei Honors Program. The honors program allows a
select group of Chinese students to spend their first two years at
Peking University studying a liberal arts curriculum before
concentrating on a single subject.

Yale has over 60 collaborations in China, including two scientific
research centers at Peking University, where students will be able to
undertake research projects for credit.

Yale’s program with Peking is the first new semester abroad program approved by the Yale College faculty in over three decades.

Clark Randt, U.S. Ambassador to China and a 1968 graduate of Yale
College, said, “I wish I could have participated in a program like this
when I was at Yale. Today, it is even more important for American and
Chinese students to learn from each other.”

For additional information visit the website at www.yale.edu/iefp/pku-yale.