![\"Furman](\"https:\/\/news.furman.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/20160821_ADM_STAFF_NAME-8.jpg\")
Furman Dean of International Admissions Candice Chan.<\/p><\/div>\n
The signing ceremony took place in Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost George Shields\u2019 office. Representing Sichuan was Julia Gao, director of its North American Program.<\/p>\n
“This is going to\u00a0going to assist us in our international market position and enhance our opportunity to recruit high-achieving students from China, which will also enhance our selectivity,” Shields said. “And it is our first program partnership of this nature, so that\u2019s very unique and going to be fabulous.”<\/p>\n
The three-year agreement will provide Sichuan undergraduates who meet Furman\u2019s admissions standards an annual merit-based scholarship of $15,000 as long as they maintain good academic progress. There is no limit to the number of applicants or admissions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a one-plus-three program. What that means is that students are going to spend one year at Sichuan University in China and then they will spend their remaining three years here at Furman,\u201d Candice Chan, Furman\u2019s Dean of International Admissions, said. “Once I did the research, I learned the Sichuan is one of the top universities Chengdu and also in China.”<\/p>\n
The first students from Sichuan could enroll at Furman this fall. Two applications are currently under review.<\/p>\n
The current international student population at Furman is about five percent, but Shields said the long-term goal is to get that number closer to 10 percent.<\/p>\n
Chan hopes this could be the start of larger and more diverse partnerships between the two universities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would love for us to develop a faculty exchange, and maybe we can have our students go over to Chengdu,\u201d she said. \u201cSo further down the road we\u2019re looking at more initiatives to get Furman\u2019s name out there more.\u201d<\/p>\n