(Photo provided to JiangsuNow)
The opening convocation for the first first-year class of undergraduates was held on Aug. 14.
The university’s first undergraduate class has 266 students, including 175 students from the Chinese mainland, 10 from Taiwan and 81 international students from 26 countries, such as the United States, Britain, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Korea, Serbia, Ethiopia, and Pakistan.
Courses will be taught in English and will be primarily conducted in small, discussion-based classes, with five to a dozen students in each class.
The students will decide their majors after the sophomore year, followed by studies in both Kunshan and Durham. Upon graduation, students will receive a bachelor's degree from Duke University and Duke Kunshan University.
Duke Kunshan - a partnership of Duke University, Wuhan University and the city of Kunshan in Jiangsu province - has offered graduate-level degrees since 2014 after it was approved by the Ministry of Education in September 2013.
Among the top 10 universities in the United States, Duke University is the only one in China that has established a joint-venture institution and awarded bachelor's degree.
