Selected from over 200,000 foreigners working in China, 49
foreign experts received the Friendship Award on Friday at the
Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The winners, from 19 countries, are engaged in fields as diverse
as agriculture, energy resources, electronics, finance, education,
scientific research, medicine, journalism and publishing.
The award, the highest honor that the Chinese government can
confer on foreigners, was granted to 49 foreign experts this year,
bringing the total to 899 since its establishment in 1991.
"I'm very honored to win the award," said Gavriel Salvendy, 68,
dean of the Industrial Engineering Department at Tsinghua
University.
Salvendy, who is also a member of the United States' National
Academy of Engineering and a professor at Purdue University, was
invited to open and manage Tsinghua University's department of
industrial engineering in 2001.
Under his supervision and his brand of creative and innovative
education, Tsinghua University is now the nation's leading academic
institution in the field of industrial engineering.
Salvendy has also helped the department establish links with
leading global companies such as IBM, Liberty Mutual and NTT.
"Industrial engineering can increase productivity, efficiency,
customer satisfaction, safety and even health. It is one of the key
factors that drives a country to become prosperous," said Salvendy,
adding that he hoped his knowledge could help for China to become a
leader in the IT industry.
"China already has a reputation for cheap goods and cheap labor.
This is okay at the beginning of industrialization, but after some
years, China should look at areas to where it can be a leader," he
told China Daily.
He is now trying to persuade the university's administration to
set up a national center to evaluate the usability of software
developed in China.
"Such a laboratory has not been set up anywhere else in the
world. China can take the lead in this field and establish high
standards in the IT field," he said.
(China Daily September 30, 2006)