Drury University agreement may bring diversity

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Drury University anticipates a more globally diverse student body after signing an agreement streamlining the admission of graduates from a Kansas City school with international ties.

The private Springfield college signed the deal this month with the Barstow School, which is an independent, college preparatory school with affiliate schools in China, Japan, Germany and Australia, the Springfield News-Leader reported.

Drury president David Manuel said students in the affiliate schools overseas take the Barstow curriculum with the expectation that, upon graduation, "they will come to the states to earn undergraduate degrees."

"That will enable them to basically have Drury as a preferred partner for their international students who are in China," he said. "We are going to contribute to some of their ... learning opportunities for students -- both in Kansas City and also students in China."

As part of the agreement, Drury faculty will travel to Barstow's Shanghai and Ningbo campuses in China to offer instruction in subjects, such as creative writing, that are rarely taught in China. Faculty will be chosen to serve as "professors in residence" on each campus during the January intersessions.

In recent years, a growing number of Barstow graduates have enrolled at Drury.

"They love our output, frankly, they are very much into the same kind of mission Drury is but at a secondary level," Manuel said. "We see a really strong partnership there."

Manuel said the partnership will help strengthen both schools' commitment to "engaged global learning." Currently, 12 percent of Drury's 1,454 traditional undergraduate students are from 51 other countries. Nearly one-fourth have an ethnic origin other than white.

"For us, it opens a window, a door into a market this will be sort of pre-paved," Manuel said.

Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com