Information and Application Procedure
Overseas Young Chinese Forum
The Overseas Young Chinese Forum (“OYCF”) is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications for its Teaching Fellowships for academic year 2009-10, which sponsor short term teaching trips by overseas scholars and professionals (Chinese or non-Chinese) to universities and other comparable institutions in the fields of humanities and social sciences in Mainland China.
OYCF Teaching Fellowships
Listed below are the basic terms for the application and administration of the OYCF Teaching Fellowships in 2009-10.
Application Deadlines. Applications should be submitted by August 15, 2009. Awards will be announced by September 15, 2009. We are currently accepting proposals for teaching trips to be undertaken between September 2009 and August 2010.
• Number of Fellowships: Thirteen (5 OYCF-Ford Fellowships, each $2,500 and 8 OYCF- Gregory C. and Paula K. Chow Fellowships, each $2,000)
OYCF retains sole discretion in the allocation of specific awards. For each award, 50% will be disbursed prior to the teaching trip upon submitting e-ticket/itinerary, and the remaining 50% will be disbursed after its completion and upon submission of other supplementary teaching materials, i.e. teaching evaluation forms, a teaching certificate and a teaching report. (The award will cover travel and living expenses, copying, local transportation and other teaching-related expenses. The amount of each grant is fixed once awarded.)
Qualifications. Each applicant must have a Ph.D., J.D., J.S.D. or a comparable graduate degree from, or is currently an advanced doctoral candidate (having passed the Ph.D qualification examination and finished at least three years of graduate studies) in a university in North America or other areas outside China.
Subject of Teaching. The subject of teaching should be from one or more fields of humanities and social sciences. Preference will be given to teaching proposals with one or more of the following elements:
• comparative perspectives: such as comparison between U.S. and China’s foreign policies, comparison between Russia and China’s economic reform;
• interdisciplinary perspectives: e.g., economic analysis of education, politics and law;
• subject matters that China is in relative shortage of teachers: sociology, philosophy, etc., or
• teaching courses at universities outside major metropolises in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and so on.
• advanced Ph.D. students who would combine the teaching trip with dissertational research in China.
Central or West Region Teaching Fellowship. We dedicate at least 1-2 fellowships as the Central or Western Region Teaching Fellowships for our teaching fellows who plan to teach in an inland province or autonomous region. Accordingly, teaching proposals specifically designed for teaching in these regions are especially welcome.
Length of Teaching. Each teaching project must include a minimum of 3 weeks of teaching period in China, with a minimum 18 hours of actual lecture time. In addition, each teaching project must include a minimum of 4 hours of office hours available for meeting with students and answering questions.
Host Institution in China. The applicant is responsible for finding a host institution. The host institution must be a university or other comparable advanced educational institution in China. We expect each Teaching Fellow to help build institutional ties between the host institution and OYCF, so that the host institution and OYCF may further cooperate in this teaching program and in other educational or research projects in the future.
Co-Applicants. A teaching project may be jointly undertaken by up to two applicants. All requirements will remain the same, except that the award will be shared by the co-applicants.
Selection Criteria. Each applicant is considered on the basis of his or her academic and professional background, the subject matter, quality of the teaching plan, interest in teaching in China, past teaching or public speaking experience, and the ability to make long-term contribution to the host institution and OYCF’s teaching program. We seek candidates who are not only knowledgeable in the subject of their teaching, but also good at applying theories to lively classroom discussion. We encourage our Teaching Fellows to use teaching methods that involve active student participation.
Review Process. Teaching Fellows will be chosen by the OYCF Teaching Fellowship Committee based on advice and recommendations from referees. The Referee Committee consists of OYCF advisors, consultants and members, from both U.S. and China, who are experts in various fields of humanities and social sciences. OYCF may conduct telephone interviews to facilitate the selection process.
Reporting Requirement. Each Teaching Fellow is required to submit a 1,500-2,000 word report within one month after the completion of the teaching trip. Reports may be selected to be published on Perspectives, OYCF’s online journal. Guidelines for the report will be provided to Teaching Fellows.
No Other Supports. In accepting OYCF’s Teaching Fellowship, each Teaching Fellow agrees that his or her teaching trip will not be simultaneously supported by any other grant, endowment or fellowship (except lodging and other necessary support from the host institution).
OYCF Teaching Fellowships Application Procedure
1. Application Package. The application package should include the following:
• Application Form – see attachment.
• Brief Letter of Interest – discussing your interest in the program, course design, specific teaching time, and the host institution.
• Curriculum Vitae or Resume.
• Detailed Course Syllabus – including teaching topics, number of classes to be offered, specific teaching plan for each class, list of reading materials and reading assignments for each class, and other class requirements.
• Invitation Letter from Host Institution – a letter (or email) from the host institution supporting the proposed course.
2. Send Application Materials to Hui Zheng at huizhenghome@gmail.com. We require applicants to compile all the documents (except invitation letter) in the order as listed above into one pdf or word file. Applicants should clearly name the files, for example, “YOUR NAME-application materials” and “YOUR NAME-invitation letter”. Only electronic submission is accepted. Applicants should send these two files as attachments to email in one time. Upon receiving your application, we will send you a confirmation email within 48 hours. Otherwise, please contact us again for the confirmation.
About OYCF
OYCF is a non-profit and tax-exempt organization based in the United States. Established in 1999, OYCF aims at promoting cooperation and exchange of ideas between China and the rest of the world, and it provides a forum for inter-disciplinary discussions among scholars, students and professionals on social, economic, political and cultural issues concerning China. OYCF publishes an online journal titled Perspectives (with English and Chinese editions), which currently has more than 2,500 e-mail subscribers. OYCF also regularly organizes seminars and salon discussions through its local affiliates and sister organizations in Boston, New York, Washington DC, the Silicon Valley and Hong Kong, and holds annual meetings for members and guests. For more information about OYCF, please visit our web site at http://www.oycf.org or contact info@oycf.org.
OYCF launched its teaching program in November 2000 at Renmin University Law School in Beijing. In December 2002, OYCF substantially expanded the teaching program when it received a grant from the Ford Foundation and donations from several institutions and individuals, and from then on, OYCF has annually awarded teaching fellowships based on applications from the public. Professor Gregory Chow, the world renowned economist at Princeton University, and his wife Ms. Chow have donated $360,000 to establish an endowment fund to support this program. Since 2002 the Ford Foundation has granted $135,000 so far to support this teaching program.