Word of mouth
In 1995 Peimin Ni () established GVSU's Shanghai, China study abroad program, and by the 2000s he and Geling Shang () co-lead it. Word of mouth and announcements in classes were used to promote it. Daniel Golden, author of "Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America's Universities", stated that the organizers initially had trouble finding interested students.