The South West University of Finance and Economics is an exchange program with the College of Business.

Danny Johnson, associate dean for undergraduate programs, said, “The only university we are with for the SWUFE program is in Chengdu, China.”

The program reaches out to international students, and is mostly new to the college.

“SWUFE started in the fall of 2011 when the first students came here,” Johnson said.

Now the program is a main part of the College of Business, even though it has only been with the college a couple of years.

Lee Van Brocklin, academic adviser and special projects coordinator in charge of going over the applications for the program said, “We have four students graduating this spring, and one student graduating this fall.”

Van Brocklin also said that they have eight students in the program right now with five eligible students coming to Iowa State this fall.

To get into this program students have to take the right classes to still graduate within four years, so the program is a two-and-two program, with two years in China and then two years at Iowa State.

“Courses in China don’t have numbers with them and courses at Iowa State University do have numbers, so we have to make sure they have taken the appropriate classes in China so when they come over here they can graduate in four years,” Johnson said.

These international students are still treated like any international student. Johnson said that they have to pass an English placement test to be in the program. This will help improve their communication skills, and determine whether they should be placed in English 150 or 250.

The exchange program is still small. “We have a good relationship with our one outlet with this program. Hopefully SWUFE will grow by word of mouth when these students go back to China,” Johnson said.

Johnson also said the College of Business has 16.5 percent international students. The university has an international population of 11.8 percent. These numbers are approximations, since they aren’t from the current year.

“China is the biggest country to exchange students. China has four times as large student transfers as India, who is right behind China with the second amount of transfer students,” Johnson said. This information can lead to plans to expand programs like the South West University of Finance and Economics.

“The students in SWUFE are all very intelligent. Most are taking between 18 to 21 credits, and able to join honors if they want to,” Van Brocklin said.

Showing how well this program works can help expand the program to allow more students to participate, or more programs like this to start up.

“Agreements at university level can bring more movement to improve and expand international programs,” Johnson said.