Geographer who took a path from Liverpool to university joint venture
By Fu Yao |
October 16, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WHILE it has established itself as an internationally acknowledged investment center, Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) has faced obstacles to growth, including land shortages, cost increases and a shortage of qualified local staff. Upgrading structures - from manufacturing to services - has been put forward as a solution to this.
Professor David Sadler was researching why Suzhou was attractive to particular business sectors, and in time helped set up a joint-venture university, helping produce graduates with skills local employers want.
Sadler is now vice president of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University - a collaboration between Xi'an Jiaotong University of China and the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom that was founded in 2006.
He also has the distinction of being the only winner from Suzhou of this year's Jiangsu Friendship Award, honoring expat experts who have made "remarkable contributions" to the economic and social development of the province.
In addition, Sadler is also the recipient of the Suzhou Excellent Foreign Experts and Suzhou's Jinji Lake Double Hundred Talents awards.
An economic geographer by trade, Sadler says the questions that should be asked about Suzhou - SIP in particular - are: why this area is capable of attracting the worldwide investment? And how will it do that sustainably?
When answering these, Sadler says two key principals must be adhered to: that a master plan is followed strictly and that it can be adapted quickly to respond to changes in a situation.
"The government is not standing still and is trying hard to adjust its industries. Before more and more manufacturers move west, they have prepared this area (Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District) to be a future knowledge base, a bio bay and a nano park. They're keeping ahead of the competition," says Sadler.
Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District (SEID) is a core development program for the upgrade and transformation of SIP's economic structure. The 25-square-kilometer area has an estimated population of around 400,000 people, including 100,000 students. Aiming to build up a comprehensive "Production-Learning-Research" base in this area, SEID placed priorities on supporting hi-tech industries, such as nano technology, bio-medicine, integrated communications, software, outsourcing services and animation.
Sadler says Suzhou is an attractive place for expats to work.
"In addition to the friendly investment environment, most foreign investors and expats do find Suzhou - SIP especially - quite green, at odds with the stereotype they had of China before they arrived," says Sadler.
"I arrived here in March 2010, but I was involved in the project from the very early stage. The school had only 164 student registered in its first year in 2006, while the number had soared to 2,000 by 2010. Now, we have 6,000 this year, and predict the number will keep going up," Sadler says, pointing to a massive building under construction south of the school's main building. It will become a multi-functional resource catering to needs of the growing number of students.
Asked about the difficulties in a cross-national and cross-cultural collaboration, Sadler says these come from establishing new teaching programs that have to meet the requirements of both countries, encouraging global research despite physical distance and working with new staff from diverse backgrounds.
"My job, basically, is to coordinate problem-solving in these three areas," explains Sadler.
He believes that working in one of the earliest cross-national collaboration universities in China, the effort he and his colleagues have made over the past six years paved the way for similar educational joint ventures that followed.
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University has gained a reputation for its dual awards - a Chinese degree and a Liverpool degree, the cooperation of two strong academic institutions and an immersion English environment.
"Our staff come from 45 countries and regions. We have 120 native English speakers working for the English Learning Center that makes English not only a language to speak but a way of thinking that becomes embedded in the head."
Sadler confirms that most of the students come from the new middle-class of China, as tuition fees are up to 70,000 yuan (US$11,170) a year.
The academic and his wife, Jeanette, live in a lakefront neighborhood in SIP. While admitting he is still stuck at "taxi level Chinese," he has put his analytical mind to figuring out an impressive, reasonable route for driving to work.
"It's a loop I have learned through experience that avoids the traffic as much as possible during rush hour," he says.
"Jeanette and I enjoy Suzhou so much. We've become sort of guides and mentors of the new guests, instructing them how to use chopsticks, showing them around the canals and gardens, treating them to real Suzhou food."
Among recent guests shown the sights of Suzhou by Sadler was his 87-year-old father-in-law.
However, despite their keenness to show off Suzhou's charms to visitors, the couple admit they find it difficult to get to know its people.
"Information sharing is not really a strength of this country. We have very limited interaction with local people, even those we see every day, like the security guards at the apartment complex. Many are too shy to get to know well, though we try hard," says Sadler.
Nonetheless, Sadler says he will persevere - in between acting as unofficial tour guide to family and friends and working to develop Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
Professor David Sadler was researching why Suzhou was attractive to particular business sectors, and in time helped set up a joint-venture university, helping produce graduates with skills local employers want.
Sadler is now vice president of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University - a collaboration between Xi'an Jiaotong University of China and the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom that was founded in 2006.
He also has the distinction of being the only winner from Suzhou of this year's Jiangsu Friendship Award, honoring expat experts who have made "remarkable contributions" to the economic and social development of the province.
In addition, Sadler is also the recipient of the Suzhou Excellent Foreign Experts and Suzhou's Jinji Lake Double Hundred Talents awards.
An economic geographer by trade, Sadler says the questions that should be asked about Suzhou - SIP in particular - are: why this area is capable of attracting the worldwide investment? And how will it do that sustainably?
When answering these, Sadler says two key principals must be adhered to: that a master plan is followed strictly and that it can be adapted quickly to respond to changes in a situation.
"The government is not standing still and is trying hard to adjust its industries. Before more and more manufacturers move west, they have prepared this area (Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District) to be a future knowledge base, a bio bay and a nano park. They're keeping ahead of the competition," says Sadler.
Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District (SEID) is a core development program for the upgrade and transformation of SIP's economic structure. The 25-square-kilometer area has an estimated population of around 400,000 people, including 100,000 students. Aiming to build up a comprehensive "Production-Learning-Research" base in this area, SEID placed priorities on supporting hi-tech industries, such as nano technology, bio-medicine, integrated communications, software, outsourcing services and animation.
Sadler says Suzhou is an attractive place for expats to work.
"In addition to the friendly investment environment, most foreign investors and expats do find Suzhou - SIP especially - quite green, at odds with the stereotype they had of China before they arrived," says Sadler.
"I arrived here in March 2010, but I was involved in the project from the very early stage. The school had only 164 student registered in its first year in 2006, while the number had soared to 2,000 by 2010. Now, we have 6,000 this year, and predict the number will keep going up," Sadler says, pointing to a massive building under construction south of the school's main building. It will become a multi-functional resource catering to needs of the growing number of students.
Asked about the difficulties in a cross-national and cross-cultural collaboration, Sadler says these come from establishing new teaching programs that have to meet the requirements of both countries, encouraging global research despite physical distance and working with new staff from diverse backgrounds.
"My job, basically, is to coordinate problem-solving in these three areas," explains Sadler.
He believes that working in one of the earliest cross-national collaboration universities in China, the effort he and his colleagues have made over the past six years paved the way for similar educational joint ventures that followed.
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University has gained a reputation for its dual awards - a Chinese degree and a Liverpool degree, the cooperation of two strong academic institutions and an immersion English environment.
"Our staff come from 45 countries and regions. We have 120 native English speakers working for the English Learning Center that makes English not only a language to speak but a way of thinking that becomes embedded in the head."
Sadler confirms that most of the students come from the new middle-class of China, as tuition fees are up to 70,000 yuan (US$11,170) a year.
The academic and his wife, Jeanette, live in a lakefront neighborhood in SIP. While admitting he is still stuck at "taxi level Chinese," he has put his analytical mind to figuring out an impressive, reasonable route for driving to work.
"It's a loop I have learned through experience that avoids the traffic as much as possible during rush hour," he says.
"Jeanette and I enjoy Suzhou so much. We've become sort of guides and mentors of the new guests, instructing them how to use chopsticks, showing them around the canals and gardens, treating them to real Suzhou food."
Among recent guests shown the sights of Suzhou by Sadler was his 87-year-old father-in-law.
However, despite their keenness to show off Suzhou's charms to visitors, the couple admit they find it difficult to get to know its people.
"Information sharing is not really a strength of this country. We have very limited interaction with local people, even those we see every day, like the security guards at the apartment complex. Many are too shy to get to know well, though we try hard," says Sadler.
Nonetheless, Sadler says he will persevere - in between acting as unofficial tour guide to family and friends and working to develop Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
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