Mandarin Immersion Parents Council

The Chinese Language Flagship Program exists at several universities and offer a place for already-fluent Mandarin speakers to go with their Chinese. At many universities, Chinese classes are for beginners and don’t get much beyond moderate/advanced. For kids coming out of immersion programs, there simply aren’t enough classes at enough depth for them. The Flagship program creates those classes, and more importantly adds connections to universities in China, so students can study abroad.

Universities include:

Arizona State University
Brigham Young University
Indiana University
Ohio State University and Ohio Public Schools
San Francisco State University Partner Program
University of Mississippi
University of Oregon and Portland Public Schools
University of Rhode Island Partner Program
Western Kentucky University Pilot Program

Here’s one example, from StatePress.com in Arazona

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ASU celebrates Chinese immersion program

By Michael Reppenhagen October 6, 2010 at 10:23 pm

“One University, Many Places” – students see it all over campus, but an ASU program is making strides to add a whole new meaning to this vision.

The ASU Chinese Language Flagship Program prepares undergraduate students to function at the professional level in China, giving them the opportunity to study and work in Chinese cities.

The program, which is part of a global, multi-lingual initiative called the Language Flagship, celebrated a continuation of its relationship with the National Security Education Program at an event held in the Memorial Union Wednesday.

The NSEP is a government initiative designed to create a pool of U.S. talent that can excel in other cultures. It awarded ASU’s Flagship program a federal grant on Sept. 29 to ensure its funding for the next three years. The program began in 2007 on a grant from the same organization.

NSEP Director Robert Slater said graduates of the center are on par with other universities who have had similar programs for a longer period of time.

Slater said the grant is intended to recognize ASU for being one of the few universities that stands by its commitment to investing in language studies.

“What ASU has is not just rhetoric, but actual practice,” Slater said.

He added that ASU must now lead a push to encourage studies of this nature to become more widespread across the country.

“Become missionaries,” Slater said to students. “Become the norm, not the exception in education.”

At Wednesday’s event, ASU President Michael Crow said the center is poised to help improve the country’s understanding of other cultures, which is a serious problem in international relations.

“We don’t have the deep understanding that we’re in need of,” Crow said. “The notions of [the U.S. and China] working together can only be achieved through cultural understanding.”

Read more here.