The China study abroad program offered by The Beijing Center (TBC) was recently ranked among the top five exchange programs for university students in the United States.

In a press release announcing the results of its fourth annual Study Abroad Rankings, Abroad101 press said that the rankings are the result of compiled evaluations from US university students who attended short-term, credit-bearing study abroad programs overseas. The TBC program placed fifth in a list largely composed of exchange programs based in Europe.

Founded in 1998, The Beijing Center for Chinese Studies offers undergraduates from around the world, but especially from Jesuit and other universities in the USA, a chance to immerse themselves in Chinese culture through intensive language classes, course work, and excursions beyond the country’s capital. Students may spend a semester in China or stay for an entire academic year studying more than 15 courses that include film, theology, Chinese Studies, international marketing, architecture and business administration.

The student tuition includes the cost of a two-week trip beyond Beijing. In autumn, students explore the Silk Road, and in spring they travel throughout the Yunnan Province. Along the way, the students interact with local families, even spending the night with them, to learn about their culture.

Why a program in China? In its webpage devoted to the Beijing exchange program, Loyola University Chicago, which handles US enrolments, guarantees the academic programs and awards credits for them, explains that “China serves as a huge market for multinational corporations, and employers are looking for people with an understanding of China, Chinese culture and people.”

The TBC program goes beyond trips by pairing students with native Mandarin speakers as language tutors and roommates, and providing them with classes taught by a local and international faculty that live and work in Beijing. This leaves students with an unforgettable experience in international relations.

“As one TBC professor explained when I first arrived at TBC, ‘You can leave China, but China never leaves you,’” said Jamie Martines, who spent the full academic year 2011 to 2012 in Beijing. “The experience I had studying at TBC challenged me academically, professionally, and personally in ways that I never expected.  I came away from my time at TBC with a more thoughtful and critical perspective on not only China, but the rest of the world as well.”

TBC Executive Director Jim Caime says that what makes The Beijing Center unique is “our placement in a long and storied tradition of Jesuit education, one that teaches us that true cultural engagement starts first with friendship.

“Matteo Ricci came to Beijing in 1601. Like TBC students today, he and his companions studied the Chinese language and culture and used that knowledge to engage in the academic life of the day. … Ricci found a particularly close friendship with Xu Guanqi, who taught him the Chinese way of life. In turn, Ricci shared his knowledge of the West. We seek to follow in these footsteps as we provide students with the supportive environment to start their own adventures in China.”

The Beijing Center offers an undergraduate study abroad program, an intensive 8-week Chinese language summer program, and a month-long summer program focusing on the future of environmental issues in China. To learn more visit www.thebeijingcenter.org.