free online course in intercultural communication is now available to students worldwide from Shanghai International Studies University (SISU). Officially launched Nov. 9 through a partnership with the social learning platform FutureLearn, more than 11,510 students from different regions of the world have joined the course.

It is SISU’s first international MOOC, and the first course on FutureLearn from China. SISU is the third leading Chinese university to build partnership with FutureLearn.

Matthew Knowles, the Consul Culture and Education of the British Council, Jiang Feng, the Chair of SISU's University Council, the SISU President Cao Deming and Vice President Feng Qinghua, along with the department leaders and course producers attended the Nov. 9 launching ceremony. Jiang Zhibin, director of SISU's Office of Academic Affairs, presided over the conference.

The cooperation between Chinese leading universities and FutureLearn is based on an agreement signed as part of the China-UK Prime Ministerial summit in June 2014 in London, attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and British Prime Minister David Cameron. SISU signed the partnership with FutureLearn on Nov. 21, 2014, and established the SISU MOOC center. It joins 40 other educational institutions offering free online courses with FutureLearn.

As a leading university focusing on international education, SISU chose intercultural communication to be the first online course after careful consideration of its unique advantages.

“Our motto is ‘Integrity, Vision and Academic Excellence’. It’s our responsibility to introduce China and the world to each other,” said Cao. “The Intercultural Communication course focuses on the cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. It’s designed to help learners gain a better knowledge of the obstacles and problems in intercultural communication, master the rules and improve their ability, which is the best embodiment of our motto.”

Professor Zhang Hongling, the director of the SISU Office of International Exchange and Cooperation, is in charge of the creation of the course. During her teaching in this course for over ten years, she keeps updating the teaching content and improving teaching methods, carrying on various construction projects of course in English.

The chief educator for this course is Professor Steve Kulich, the executive director of SISU Intercultural Institute (SII) and is joined by Associate Professor Chi Ruobing, Ph.D. from University of Hawaii. The course is offered in English.

"I hope that Intercultural Communication can bring to the global learners a chance of learning and discussing Chinese culture together," Kulich said.

Jiang Feng, the university council chair, pointed out that the development of international MOOCs has a great influence on the reform of higher education.

"The launching of our course on the international platform expands the space for our university’s further development and shows SISU’s value in online learning as well as the globalized concept in education. The Intercultural Communication course gives chance to learners all around the world to learn together. It helps to share the superior educational resources in China and improve our attractiveness on the global scale.” He said.

He further pointed out that in this new network era, universities are faced with both more opportunities and challenges than ever before. It’s an important step in information and communication technology in education for universities to develop online courses with international impact. The universities must have foresight and proper solutions, which is our responsibility in this new age.

The whole project was completed by a team from the Department of Educational Technology in School of Journalism and Communication at SISU.

FutureLearn is wholly owned by The Open University in the United Kingdom, a world leader in distance and online learning with more than 44 years of experience. The website went live in September 2013 following the rapid development of MOOCs in the global higher education sector. FutureLearn currently has 72 partners and reaches close to 2530,000 learners in more than 190 countries and territories around the world.

Click here to join the course: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/intercultural-communication