On December 19, Maeesha Merchant, vice president of California College of the Arts (CCA), led a delegation to visit FNU. Li Chun, deputy mayor of Fuzhou City, Li Baoyin, secretary of FNU Party Committee, FNU President Wang Changping, and Lai Hairong, vice president of FNU, met with the visiting guests. Heads of Department of Development and Planning, Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, College of Music, College of Fine Arts, and School of Communication also attended the meeting.
On behalf of FNU, Li Baoyin, warmly welcomed Maeesha Merchant and his delegation, and briefly introduced the general situation of FNU, focusing on the development of such art disciplines as musicology, fine arts, drama, film and television studies. Li also gave a detailed account about all the work done by the two schools for international collaborative education. He hoped that the two schools will strengthen and accelerate cooperation to achieve fruitful results of cooperative education at an early date.
During the exchange, Wang Changping pointed out that FNU boasts such advantages as strong development momentum, good location, strengths in art disciplines, and strong support from information technology, which have laid a solid foundation for the development of cooperative education between the two schools. He hoped that both sides will speed up efforts to obtain approval for cooperative education programs and institutions as soon as possible.
Deputy Mayor Li Chun said that with a rich artistic atmosphere, profound historical and cultural heritage and obvious advantages in information technology, Fuzhou is a promising place for the development of modern art. She added that Fuzhou will fully support CCA and FNU in conducting international cooperative education, and hoped that the cooperation will take root and bear fruit as soon as possible.
Maeesha Merchant said that FNU has impressed her deeply and that both schools have attached great importance to the quality of teaching and have cultivated many excellent art talents. She expressed the hope to conduct cooperative education with FNU in the field of art disciplines so as to cultivate more high-level art talents.
After the meeting, the delegation visited College of Music, College of Fine Arts, School of Communication and the shared area of Fuzhou Higher Education Mega Center.
CCA is a top art college and also the first art school in the United States to grant bachelor's and master's degrees in visual and performing arts. It brings together top teachers in such fields as theater, film and television, music, dance, fine arts, and has cultivated a large number of elite artists, who have won great honors such as Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, British Academy Film Arts Awards, and awards of the Venice International Film Festivals on many occasions. In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019 (Arts & Design), CCA ranked 21st in the world and 9th in the United States.
(Translated by Zheng Lizhen /reviewed by Xie Xiujuan)