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Invited by the CPAFFC， John J. DeGioia， president of Georgetown University of the United States， and his party visited Beijing and Xining from January 3 to 5. Chen Zhili， state councillor， Xu Kuangdi， vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and president of the China-US Peoples Friendship Association (CUSPFA)， Gao Yunlong， deputy governor of Qinghai Province respectively met with them. CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin accompanied the delegation on its visit to Xining. The delegation held academic discussions with professors of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and visited Qinghai University where the two sides explored the possibility of cooperation.

State Councillor Chen Zhili briefed the delegation on education in China. She said， in the past three decades since reform and opening up， great changes have taken place in China’s education. The scale of the country’s higher education is the largest in the world， surpassing that of the United States. But China is not a great power in higher education. The most critical problem it faces is how to raise students’ creative ability and cultivate an innovative spirit in them. The education systems of China and the United States have their respective advantages. Under the Chinese system the students build a solid foundation of basic knowledge while the American system encourages innovation. The two sides can draw on each other’s strength and enhance exchanges and cooperation. At his meetings with Chinese leaders， President DeGioia expressed the willingness to share with China the useful experience in education and help China train more innovative personnel.

The CUSPFA， the China Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development and Georgetown University signed a memorandum of understanding on a programme of sending young and middle-aged Chinese officials to study in the United States. The core content of the programme is to select and organize excellent young and middle-aged officials from Chinese government departments to study in Georgetown University and visit public and private departments in the United States. This 5-year programme will start in 2008. The two sides will carry out further consultations on the programme and sign the final agreement.

Located in Washington D.C.， Georgetown University is the oldest Catholic university in the United States and occupies an important place in the country. Many important political figures including former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright graduated from this university. It is known as “the cradle of American political leaders”. President DeGioia is the first lay president in the history of the university. He has visited China several times and actively promotes educational and cultural exchanges between China and the U. S. At present， Georgetown University has established good cooperative relations with a few Chinese institutions of higher learning such as the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC， Renmin University of China and Fudan University， and jointly sponsored with them seminars and exchanges of visits between students and between scholars.