Recently, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China released a list of Sino-foreign joint education programs sanctioned in the second half of 2020. Undergraduate education program of Statistics major, jointly organized by CUEB and the University of South Florida (USF) in the United States, is listed on it. The approval of this project closes the gap in CUEB’s Sino-foreign education cooperation at the present stage and marks a major breakthrough in the international education of CUEB.

This cooperative project is aimed at Statistics majors interested in business big data under the “4+0” training mode. As it now has been incorporated into China’s undergraduate enrollment plan, students should take National College Entrance Examination and meet relevant enrollment regulations and requirements before being admitted. Meanwhile, CUEB will also enroll international undergraduates according to relevant admission standard. Those who meet the graduation requirements of both CUEB and USF can be awarded a bachelor’s degree respectively from the two universities as well as a diploma from CUEB. The project is planned to enroll 80 Chinese students and a number of international students starting from 2021 each year.

The University of South Florida is a world-class public research university and a first-class university in the United States with strong scientific research capability. According to U.S. News and World Report’s (U.S. News) 2021 college rankings, USF ranks 103th in the US and 46th among public universities of the country. USF is distinctive in research: its R&D expenditure provided by the National Science Foundation ranks at number 25 among universities in the US; its research grant takes the 42th place among American universities; and the number of intellectual property rights and patents applied by USF comes in top 10 public research universities in the country. What’s more, the major Business Big Data of USF’s Muma College of Business is among the top 20 in the United States. It provides not only advanced professional courses but also characteristic practical training through widely-recognized personnel training mode, bringing students an almost 100 percent employment rate and an average annual salary of 100,000 dollars. 

Guided by this project, CUEB will carry out in-depth research and teaching cooperation with USF and other high-level universities in the world, so as to upgrade the international education of CUEB.