<p>@beyphy
Your girlfriend from China might not have heard of Michigan (I presume she is a student?)… but Michigan is well known within Chinese academia. Case in point:</p>
<p>"Michigan-China University Leadership Forum</p>
<p>During President Mary Sue Coleman’s 2005 trip to China she met with officials from the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE), who requested that U-M host a two-week forum for Chinese higher education leaders on the management of world-class research universities. The inaugural forum, took place in May 2006 with 25 Chinese university presidents and higher education leaders participating. </p>
<p>U-M hosted a second leadership forum in 2008 and a third forum in 2010."</p>
<p>Michigan has joint institute/program agreements with the following Chinese universities:
- Peking University
- Shanghai Jial Tong University
- Beijing Normal University
- Fudan University
- Tsinghua University
- Tianjin University
- Chinese Academy of Sciences, etc.</p>
<p>Michigan has a long history in China, dating back to the 19th century … probably second only to Yale. Prominent Chinese alum include:</p>
<ul>
<li>WU Yi-Fang’28, first female university president in China;</li>
<li>WU Ta-You’33, commonly known as “Father of Physics” of China);</li>
<li>ZHU Guangya’50 – nuclear physicist; in 1999, Zhu received an achievement medal in recognition of his contribution to China’s “Two Bombs, One Satellite” projects.</li>
</ul>
<p>Perhaps your girlfriend have heard of them?</p>