Institute of East Asian Studies

Summer Institute on Silk Road Studies

Founded in 2007 as a collaboration between UC Berkeley's Institute of East Asian Studies, the San Mateo County Office of Education and the Committee of 100, the Summer Institute on China has trained over 200 middle school and high school teachers to teach about China. The program combines lectures by University faculty with an extensive field study program for gaining content knowledge plus lesson planning experience for hands-on practice to immediately use the content learned and receive feedback from fellow teacher-travelers in small group teacher learning communities as well as large group presentations.

This program was funded by Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad in 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2024. The 2012 program received a grant from President Obama's 100,000 Strong Initiative. Each year the program follows a theme to tie together the cities visited and the content presented. From 2014 - 2024, the program has included themes related to the overland Silk Road routes, in particular Dunhuang and the Mogao Caves. As part of the Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, the Summer Institute will offer enriched content from the Silk Road, including land, sea and steppe locations to support teachers’ needs for curriculum development related this area. The 2018 program included study of Mongolia; 2024, hosted by the British Library, studied artifacts and manuscripts from Mogao Cave 17; 2025 returns to Mongolia.