ITHACA, N.Y. - For the first time in Cornell University history, Chinese high school students will spend six weeks earning credit at the university's Summer College program. The United States government granted visas on June 23 to the students, who arrived in Ithaca on June 24.

Seven students, all from the Jiao Tong University Affiliated High School, are commencing the pilot of the China-Cornell College Preparatory Program, which gives Chinese students an opportunity to take courses, earn credits, explore majors and experience life at an American university. Their classes began June 26.

Cornell President Hunter Rawlings and Glenn Altschuler, dean of Cornell's School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions, sent a letter last February to Xie Shengwu, the President of Jiao Tong University, proposing to deepen the relationship between the Chinese University and Cornell by launching a college preparatory program. Twenty Chinese high school students applied in a competitive selection process.

Now in its 44th year, the Cornell Summer College program invites talented high school sophomores, juniors and seniors to live and study on the Ithaca campus for up to six weeks each summer. Students experience college life, explore a wide variety of academic majors, make life-long friends and prepare for the future. The program enrolls 815 high school students from 38 states and 29 countries.

"This is all part of our ongoing effort to work with educational institutions in China and to do what we do best: provide opportunity for students," said Altschuler. "In the 21st century, education is becoming more transnational, and we are promoting an understanding between people from different societies. We hope that more and more students from China will attend the Cornell Summer College."

"Usually, only Chinese graduate students get a chance to study in the U.S.," said Liya Rong, Cornell director of the China-Cornell College Preparatory program. "This idea is revolutionary."

By Yong Tang, People��s Daily correspondent based in Washington D.C.