| Wenzhou–Kean University | |||||||||||
| Country: | China | ||||||||||
| Website: | WKU English Website WKU Chinese Website | ||||||||||
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Wenzhou–Kean University is a university in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China. It was established in 2014 as a joint venture between Wenzhou University and the Kean University of New Jersey.[1]
In March 2014, the Ministry of Education of China approved the establishment of Wenzhou–Kean University. The university received its accreditation to confer bachelor's degrees in 2018 and to confer professional graduate degrees in 2019.
The construction project and all costs of operating Wenzhou–Kean University will be paid for through tuition and financing provided by the municipal and provincial governments in China. There will be no cost to Kean University or the state of New Jersey.[2] The partnership will be with Wenzhou University, a institution in Zhejiang Province, which will bear the entire cost, estimated to exceed $60 million. This funding will cover the construction of the planned 300-acre campus, as well as all faculty expenses and the daily operational costs of the school.[3]
A dispute over Kean University's campus in Wenzhou, China, escalated when Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, criticized the university for compromising American values by altering the employment status of its Wenzhou–Kean faculty, including over 50 U.S. citizens. Weingarten's comments were rebuked by Kean University. The controversy sparked calls for more stringent state oversight of New Jersey's higher education international partnerships. Amidst ongoing debates about academic integrity and the role of the Chinese government in the partnership, New Jersey's Secretary of Higher Education, Zakiya Smith-Ellis, is assessing the situation.[4]
Job postings that allegedly favored Chinese Communist Party (CCP) affiliates for non-faculty roles were reported, supposedly indicating that academic freedom was threatened.[5] An anonymous former instructor at Wenzhou–Kean recounted experiences of feeling threatened by Chinese administrative figures who were CCP members for discussing prohibited topics. They claimed that faculty members were explicitly instructed to avoid a series of sensitive issues including the Tiananmen Square demonstrations of 1989, the political unrest in Hong Kong, the incarceration of Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province, and the question of Taiwan’s sovereignty.[6]