Rice Leadership Training for Principals Program
Why Principals?
Great principals represent great schools. We have found that the future of improving student achievement is most closely tied to a school principal. Our goal is to help principals from primary and secondary schools in China improve their leadership and management skills. Ultimately, the principals in our program will be able to impact student performance and best prepare them for universities in the United States.Our Goal
The program is focused on enabling principals to acquire the skills needed to solve practical problems and improve their schools with a renewed understanding of leadership and management. In addition, the training topics are subject to the principals' individualized needs and can be customized based on our participants' questions.Although this training program includes many academic theories, its emphasis is on solving school management issues through case studies and presentations from experienced higher education experts. The goal of the program is to help principals understand "how to manage" rather than "what is management." This program will give principals from China the confidence and resources needed to improve their leadership skills, which will ultimately prepare their students for success at U.S. universities.
Chinese Students, U.S. Universities
China is the second-leading place of origin for students coming to the United States, following India. The number of Chinese students studying abroad has grown dramatically. In 2011, there were nearly 160,000 students from China studying in the U.S. That's roughly a 23 percent increase in one year for all Chinese students and 43 percent in one year for undergraduates. This upward trend is expected to continue along with the growing Chinese economy.While other countries, namely Great Britain, Australia and Canada, compete aggressively for Chinese applicants, recent survey data shows us that Chinese students rank their desire to attend U.S. colleges at the top of their list. Based on these findings, high school leaders in China are seeking a solution to better prepare their high school students for admission into U.S. colleges. To achieve the goal, the school leaders need to be equipped with the following areas of expertise:
• Cultural exchange
• Finance
• Operations
• Curriculum
• Discipline
• Culture of Achievement
• Diversity
• Data-driven decisions
• Leadership
Culture, Visits & Exchange
The Rice Leadership Training for Principals program is an educational outreach program under the China Center at Rice University. A unique feature of our program is that we integrate guest speakers and special visits into the program, such as visiting local high schools, NASA tours and museums, as part of cultural exchange experiences with our traditional classroom training. This gives principals the opportunity to apply their newfound knowledge and tackle their own issues.
As part of the Rice international initiative, significant effort has been made to recruit top Chinese high school students. This program will grant access to a significant fraction of the best high school graduates in China via their principals. Ultimately, those trained high school principals may serve as ambassadors for Rice University to recruit talented students from China.
