Sim Chin
NIU will be represented among officials from 56 colleges who will travel to Indonesia and Vietnam this weekend on an educational trade mission with Francisco J. Sánchez, the U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade.
NIU will treat the trip as a fact-finding mission for potential students and educators.
Students from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam and Jakarta in Indonesia will learn of NIU’s reputation of being an outstanding research university, said Sim Chin, NIU’s associate director of undergraduate international admissions, who will represent NIU on the trip.
Chin also will learn what students in those cities are looking for in an American-based undergraduate education.
“When students in other countries think of colleges in the United States, they tend to only be familiar with top-ranking universities such as Harvard and MIT,” Chin said. “NIU has so many programs to offer students. Many of our programs do not receive the global exposure that other schools’ programs do, but they are excellent.”
Francisco J. Sánchez
The trip will run from Saturday, April 2, to Friday, April 8. Indonesia and Vietnam were selected for the mission because they are deemed two key export markets for U.S. companies.
“Education is one of our most valuable exports,” Sanchez said. “The schools participating in this mission represent the best of what American has to offer international students.”
“We’ll be speaking to high school students and students of college age who are interested in studying in the Unites States,” Chin said. “The focus of this trip is predominately for undergraduate students.”
NIU will take part in three academic fairs, one scheduled for each city. During the fairs, Chin will tout NIU’s nationally recognized programs.
NIU already educates 19 undergraduate and graduate students from Vietnam and Indonesia, she said.
by Gerard Dzuiba
