As Duke Kunshan University (DKU) continues toward its scheduled August 2014 opening, a growing number of faculty in Durham have stepped forward to develop potential research and education programs for the school, said the chair of the China Faculty Council Thursday.
DKU will open with graduate degree programs in medical physics, global health and management studies and a non-degree undergraduate semester program. Professor Haiyan Gao told the Academic Council Duke faculty have responded well to funding opportunities for course development from the university's Education and Research Initiatives in China (ERIC) program.
The initial undergraduate course offerings include classes in the humanities, social sciences, physical and natural sciences and global health. Gao said she was pleased with the range and variety of initiatives, which include writing courses, theater studies and study of Greek civilization.
Several of the new courses were developed with the assistance of Education and Research Innovations in China (ERIC) funding, said Gao, chair of the Department of Physics.
"The initial focus for the program has been on course development," Gao said, adding that ERIC funding is also intended to assist development of research initiatives. "In the coming years, more emphasis will be placed on research initiatives. It is important for DKU to become known as an international research university."
Provost Peter Lange told the council that construction continues on schedule for DKU to meet its opening date. All exterior work is essentially done and the focus is now on the interiors of the five initial campus buildings.
In addition, hiring of five DKU faculty for courses not taught by Duke faculty is also underway, Lange said, a process in which Duke faculty will be heavily involved. A Duke committee will nominate potential faculty members, who will then go to a DKU faculty hiring panel for review. The panel will make recommendations to the DKU executive vice chancellor who will have final say on the hiring, Lange said.
Lange discussed the principles of academic freedom approved by all DKU partners and its board. As DKU is an independent joint venture, Lange added that DKU faculty and administration report not to Chinese Ministry of Education – as with other Chinese universities -- but to its own board, which operates by bylaws drafted in conjunction with the Duke trustee board.
Lange noted that one outstanding issue, which he said he believes will shortly be resolved, involved publication of DKU's tuition for Chinese students. In China, the tuition must be approved by a provincial pricing bureau, which acts as a consumer protection agency.
"There is not a question about the tuition; it is a question of how we are going to publicly list it," Lange said, noting that subsidies and grants will significantly offset tuition costs for Chinese citizens. The pricing bureau has been resistant to listing the full tuition level, preferring instead to list the subsidized tuition, Lange said.
Lange said he expected a solution shortly and added that "none of this changes our revenue expectations. Our subsidy projections remain on target."
In other business, the council heard about changes to Duke's Intellectual Property policy that brings it in line with changing technology related to online courses.
Professor Hadley Cocks, chair of the university's intellectual property committee, said the additions help ensure faculty maintain some control over the courseware they develop even if they leave Duke.
The revisions are based on similar principles cited in Duke's patent policy.
- If the courseware produces any revenue – and to date most have not – the university gets back the money it put into the course development and anything beyond that is split between the faculty member and the university.
- The university Conflict of Interest policy applies to the courseware. If, for example, the faculty member does sell the courseware, approval from the appropriate dean must be received.
- The faculty member must approve revisions to the online course. This applies even if the faculty member has left the university. This is in line with Duke's agreement with all university MOOC instructors, which states that reuse of the online course once a faculty creator has left the university must still be approved by the faculty member.
For more information, see the committee's interpretation of the policy revisions here.