Colin Dodds reflects on his years-long relationship with China科林道兹谈与中国交流合作关系

Cover Photo
By Chris Muise

Dr. J. Colin Dodds has experienced a lot of firsts up to and including his tenure as president of Saint Mary’s University. He was first made a member of the faculty in September of 1982. His first day on the job as the departmental chair of Finance and Management Sciences and the M.B.A. Director in 1984. His first day as Dean of the Sobey School of Business in 1987, first day as V.P. Academic and Research in 1991, and finally, his first day as the President of SMU in 2000.

Now, in 2015, as his tenure as president comes to a close, he’s starting to experience the flip-side of all those many firsts.

“It’s bittersweet. There’s a lot of ‘lasts,’” says Dr. Dodds, who was preparing for his final convocation ceremony as president at the time of this interview. “Every week, there’s a ‘last’ of some sort.”

Dr. Dodds has accomplished many great things during his 33-year run at Saint Mary’s, and during his 15-year run as president, to the point that it almost does him a disservice to devote an article to just one facet of his distinguished career.

But when Dakai Maritimes recently sat down with Dr. Dodds, just a few days shy of the end of the academic year, and a month prior to his last day in office, one of the aspects of that career we discussed with him was something that began with another one of his many firsts – his first trip to China.

“My first trip was into a place called Xiamen, which is in Fujian province,” says Dr. Dodds. “We have a linkage there through our Confucius Institute.”

Saint Mary’s today is known for its large Chinese student population, and while Saint Mary’s interest in the East dates back to the late 1970s with their Asian Studies program, that is thanks in part to the partnerships and linkages Dr. Dodds has helped to foster overseas, with the guidance and support of Bill Bu, SMU alum and Hong Kong-Canada Business Association Atlantic Section president.

One of the strongest linkages is SMU’s relationship with their sister school, Beijing Normal University in Zhuhai.

“Bill took me to Zhuhai back in the middle ’90s. There wasn’t a single university in Zhuhai at that point,” says Dr. Dodds. Over the last 12 years, under Dr. Dodds’ presidency, Saint Mary’s has been fostering the growth of the Zhuhai campus, both by bringing their faculty here, and in creating a 2-and-2 program that lets their students of commerce study their last two years here. “Bill invited groups over from Zhuhai, groups of business people, for orientations here. Bit by bit, we built the linkage.”

And that linkage is only growing. Next year, Saint Mary’s will start offering their 2-and-2 program full-time at Zhuhai as well – they’re sending some of their teachers there to teach full-time.

One of the reasons Dr. Dodds has been so proactive in fostering a strong link between Saint Mary’s and China is because he truly believes in the university’s mission – to help create citizens of the world.

“The vision for Saint Mary’s is for our students to be citizens of the world,” says Dr. Dodds. “For our Nova Scotia students, or students from other parts of Canada, if they don’t have the opportunity to study abroad…they at least get the chance to meet students from other parts of the world, here on campus. I think that helps civil society. I think it helps build relationships with Canada and different countries – in this case, China.”

Dr. Dodds also believes that, with Nova Scotia facing an aging demographic, retention of bright young minds is vital to the future of this province, and that includes the international students that come to study at Saint Mary’s, from China or from any one of the over 100 nations that SMU students represent.

“What better than students that have studied here that have got Canadian credentials – e.g. a Saint Mary’s degree – and they want to stay, and they want to put their roots down,” says Dr. Dodds. “Quite a few of our Chinese students actually do stay.”

While Dr. Dodds has experienced a lot of lasts coming up to the end of his presidency, he is making sure that Saint Mary’s connection and partnership with China is not going to be a last for the university anytime soon.

“There’s no point leaving something, having nobody behind you,” says Dr. Dodds. “We have people who are committed to keeping that going. The new president has indicated that what attracted him to come in the first place was the internationalization.”

It may not even be a last for Dr. Dodds, who will be returning to teach at the Sobey School of Business nest year. In fact, if discussions about managing the new program out there carry weight, a new chapter in his story with China may be one of his new firsts.

“If I do that, I’ll be going to China to recruit,” says Dr. Dodds, who will be returning to Xiamen at the time of this writing.

科林道兹教授在任加拿大圣玛丽大学校长之前以及期间,经历许多难忘的第一次。1982年9月,他初任圣玛丽大学执教;1984年,他首任金融管理学院系主任以及MBA项目主管;1987年,他就任商学院院长;1991年,他担任圣玛丽大学教育、研究副校长。直至2000年,道兹教授成为圣玛丽大学校长。

今年也就是2015年,道兹教授将完成其校长任期。经历了这些难忘的“首次”,他也开始经历许多不舍的“最后一次”。

“这是一种苦乐参半的感觉。因为我要面对的是很多‘最后一次’,” 道兹教授接受我们采访的时候,正在准备出席圣玛丽大学的毕业典礼。这也将是他最后一次以校长的身份出席毕业典礼。“每一周,我都要经历一些‘最后一次’。”

道兹教授在圣玛丽大学任职33年;其中,任校长职务 15年。这一篇文章的长度和份量,远不足以描述他卓越的职业生涯。

我们在访问道兹教授的时候恰好邻近一个学年度的结束,离他结束任期也只有短短的一个月。借着这个机会,我们和他一起回顾了他的首次中国行。

“我在中国的第一站是福建省厦门市。”道兹教授回顾道:“圣玛丽大学和孔夫子学院有着紧密的合作关系。”

众所周知,如今的圣玛丽大学拥有大批中国学生。早在上个世纪70年代,圣玛丽大学便开始与亚洲国家合作开创教育项目,即亚洲研究项目。该项目的实现,离不开道兹教授以及圣玛丽校友、港加商会大西洋分会会长卜志雨先生的努力。

众多教育合作项目中,与圣玛丽大学合作关系最密切的要数它的姐妹学校──北京师范大学珠海分校。

道兹教授说:“90年代中期,卜志雨带我去了珠海。那时候,珠海还没有大学。”在道兹教授担任校长的12年期间,圣玛丽大学与北师大珠海分校紧密合作,互相派遣教授授课,并开办“2+2”合作教学项目,让珠海校区的学生有机会前往圣玛丽完成大学后两年的学习。“卜志雨从珠海邀请了大批的商业伙伴,前来我们新斯科舍考察。逐渐地,我们建立了紧密的合作关系。”

这种合作仍在不断进展。明年,圣玛丽将在珠海校区开办合作教学,派遣本校教授到珠海全职授课。

道兹教授之所以会如此努力地促进圣玛丽大学与中国的合作,是因为他坚信圣玛丽大学的使命——培养世界公民。

“圣玛丽大学的使命是培养我们的学生成为世界的公民。” 道兹教授说:“如果我们新斯科舍省和加拿大其他地区的学生没有出国留学的机会,那么至少要在校园里有与来自世界其它国家学生交流的机会。这种机会将促进社会的发展,同时也将增进加拿大与国际间的关系,比如中国。”

道兹教授还坚信,在新斯科舍省面临人口老龄化的今天,为新省留住年轻人至关重要。这些年轻的力量就包括了圣玛丽大学来自中国以及其他100多个国家的留学生。

“有谁能比这些在加拿大受过高等教育的学生更合适留下来呢? 比如这些从圣玛丽毕业的学生,他们想要留在本省安家置业。” 道兹教授说:“现在,毕业后选择留在本省的留学生越来越多。”

在任校长期间,道兹教授为圣玛丽大学与中方的合作做出了巨大贡献。临近卸任,他也要确保该合作能够继续进行。

“即使我不在职,与中国紧密的合作关系仍会一如既往。”道兹教授说:“我们的新校长曾表示,圣玛丽大学的国际化是吸引他就职的一个重要原因。”

或许,这还不是道兹教授与圣玛丽大学说再见的时候,因为他将继续在商学院任教。事实上,如果他接下来接手管理有关的新项目,他的中国故事将再次揭开一页新篇章。

“如果我就任相应岗位,我应该会去中国招生。”编者着笔同时,道兹教授将再赴厦门考察。

About Dakai Maritimes

Halifax's English-Mandarin newspaper catered to Maritime Canadian and Chinese residents as well as business and leisure Chinese visitors to Maritime Canada. Dakai Maritimes publishes 4 times a year in Halifax Regional Municipality.

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