Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid and Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer will open a new $1.8 million global learning center at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, in Manoogian Hall at Wayne State.

The World Bridge global education complex at Wayne State features five videoconference systems and 275 computers linked to a powerful broadband fiber network. A unit of the College of Liberal Arts, the complex provides a venue for learning foreign languages and cultures and will provide remote delivery of academic, professional and technical skills to locations throughout the world. It also will assist in teaching English as a second language to employees in other countries who will be transferred to work in the United States.

This distance education facility is a partnership of university, business and community leaders who share a common vision for global education. Local and international businesses provided more than $1 million in funding for the center, with the remaining portion paid for through supportive grants from Wayne State University. Participating firms include Ford Motor Co., Denso International America, Panasonic and Yazaki.

World Bridge currently has two major branches: Japan Bridge, a program aimed at students and companies involved in US-Japan trade; and German Bridge, a high-tech learning link with America's oldest study-abroad institute in Germany, the WSU Junior Year in Munich program.

For more information call Dallas Kenny, director of the Foreign Language Technology Center, at (313) 577-3022.