Roosevelt University and China’s Tongji University

Sign Agreement

Real estate development and management are the focus of a new international collaboration agreement signed April 4 by Roosevelt University’s Walter E. Heller College of Business Administration and the School of Economics and Management at Tongji University in China.

“The goal of this agreement is to foster and develop cooperative relationships between our two universities,” said Joseph Chan, interim dean of the Heller College. “Through our Chicago School of Real Estate, we expect to work with Tongji University in a number of areas, including teaching, real estate research projects, exchange of faculty and students, collaboration with industry professionals and staff development.”

Roosevelt University’s Chicago School of Real Estate is part of the Walter E. Heller College of Business Administration.  The school offers graduate-level education to students interested in careers in real estate management, marketing, finance and development. 

Tongji University is one of the leading universities under the State Ministry of Education in the People's Republic of China.  It is a comprehensive, research-intensive university with the most highly regarded real estate and urban planning program in China. Representing Tongji University for the visit that included attending the Fogelson Forum, tours of Chicago real estate developments, and the agreement signing were the following:

• Dr. Fang He, Vice-Director, Department of Construction Management & Real Estate, School of Economics and Management, Tongji University
• Dr. Nankai Xia, Vice-President, Shanghai Urban Planning and Design Institute, Tongji University
• Dr. Jun Wang, Chief, Department of Marketing Management, Shanghai Urban Planning & Design Institute, Tongji University

Dialogue between Tongji University and Roosevelt University began in 2006 when several members of the Advisory Board of the Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate visiting the Tongji campus.  The first result of the agreement will be a delegation of Chinese real estate executives visiting Chicago in fall, 2008, for two weeks of interaction with Chicago developers and real estate industry firms.

The Tongji agreement is one of the programs of the China Initiative being undertaken by the Institute with financial assistance from VOA Associates, Larry Mayer and Company, and other Advisory Board members who participated in the 2006 trip to China.

Roosevelt University, a national leader in educating socially conscious citizens, is a private, student-centered university with 7,200 students studying at comprehensive campuses in the Chicago Loop and northwest suburban Schaumburg and online. Founded on the principles of inclusion and social justice, Roosevelt offers academic programs in arts and sciences, business, performing arts and education. According to a 2006 study in the New York Times on diversity of undergraduate students, Roosevelt University ranks tenth nationally for private institutions. For more information, visit www.roosevelt.edu.

Walter E. Heller College of Business Administration