"Seeking knowledge without thinking is labour lost; thinking without seeking knowledge is perilous."
- Confucius

This is a collaborative project between the University of Sydney and the China Scholarship Council. The project began in June 2002. From the University of Sydney, the Faculty of Education and Social Work, and five schools in the Faculty of Science - Biological Science, Chemistry, Geosciences, Physics, and Mathematics and Statistics and participating schools within the Faculty of Engineering were involved in the Teaching Sciences in English Program for Visiting Scholars from China.

The Visiting Scholars from the People's Republic of China are distinguished teachers and researchers in their own fields. Each semester for the initial years of the program 2002-2007, 25 Visiting Scholars will come to Sydney to take part in the program. The course has been specially designed to enable the Scholars to teach their discipline in the English language with increased confidence. Science education research in the English language will form a basis for seminars, observations of teaching and practice teaching in a small group situation.

A mentor from their own science discipline will enable the Visiting Scholars to discuss issues and also collaborate in a designated science education research project.

An orientation program and an Intensive English course will commence the program. Intensive English will continue as one of the subjects throughout the remainder of the course. By the conclusion of the course, the Visiting Scholars will be able to write up their project for publication on this web site. Scholars should also have developed some exemplary teaching resources.

The project is being guided by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of the University of Sydney, Professor John Hearn.