A delegation of 16 public managers from the Chinese province of Qinghai will be in Georgia this week for the second segment of their training program coordinated by the Vinson Institute's International Center. In June 2007, the managers received public administration instruction from guest lecturers arranged by the Vinson Institute on site at the Qinghai Administrative Institute.

While in this country December 2-15, the Qinghai group will meet with state agency officials in Atlanta, Georgia, before traveling to Rome and Valdosta for site visits with community leaders and local government officials. In Athens, they will visit University of Georgia departments, learn more about the Vinson Institute's work program, and receive training certificates from Tim Burgess, senior vice president for finance and administration at the University of Georgia and former top budgeting and finance officer for the state. Burgess served as a guest lecturer in Qinghai in June. The delegation will complete their trip by spending two days in Washington, D.C., to learn more about the workings of the federal level of government.

Since 1999, the Institute's International Center has coordinated training programs in China that have been attended by more than 500 municipal and provincial managers in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, and Qinghai. The short courses that make up the first part of the program are taught by UGA faculty members and government officials and practitioners in partnership with Chinese administrative institutions. For the second part, the managers travel to the United States for two additional weeks of training.