Rising trade with China reflected in college class enrollments

College students in northern Nevada are looking west far, far west as they develop skills that will help them do business in China after graduation.

But the number of grownups who are taking Chinese-language classes through adult education has slumped in recent months.

College students who prepare themselves to do business in China will find a growing opportunity, says the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development.

In 2011, exports from Nevada to China totaled more than $600 million. The state's exports to China are larger than its exports to Mexico and Japan combined, and they are growing quickly.

Lead by items ranging from copper ore to sophisticated electronic assemblies, exports to China from Nevada last year rose nearly 26 percent from a year earlier, the state says.

Students at the University of Nevada, Reno, are preparing to seize the opportunity.

Chinese-language classes a series of four courses, each one semester long have been filling rapidly, says Darrell Lockhart, the chair of UNR's foreign languages and literature department. Enrollment in each class is capped at 25.

A class on Chinese culture, which is taught in English, also has been drawing strong interest in recent years, says Lockhart.

"They are learning Chinese for a reason," he says. "It definitely is a language that is becoming more popular with students."

(For similar reasons, Lockhart says foreign language classes in Arabic and Japanese are popular at UNR.)

And students are deepening their understanding of China beyond learning the language.

Elliott Parker, chairman of the economics department at UNR and an advisor to international business students, says interest in China began to rise about a decade ago and has remained strong ever since.

Parker, who will teach a course on the Chinese economy this summer, says he doesn't teach the class often enough to develop any firm conclusions about student interest.

"I have the strong impression that interest in China rose after 1997 or so, about the same time that American investors decided China was a safe place to put their money, to produce goods for re-export back to the U.S. market," he says.

Truckee Meadows Community College doesn't teach Chinese-language classes to its regularly enrolled students, and its community education program has seen declining interest among continuing education students.

A class in Mandarin Chinese scheduled in the community education program this spring was cancelled because there wasn't enough enrollment. That comes on the heels of a 30 percent decline in enrollment in the Chinese-language class scheduled the previous semester, says Kathy Berry, marketing manager for TMCC Workforce Development and Community Education.

But she says the community education program is examining the possibility of a Chinese-business class that would cover language, business etiquette and customs for traveling businesspeople from northern Nevada.