On September 17, 2015, Professor Charlie Jeffery, Senior Vice-Principal of Edinburg University, and Yang Nini, the Director of the Chinese Office of Edinburg University visited Peking University and were received by Wang Jie, Vice President of PKU, at the Linhuxuan (the Lake House). Professor Wang Jie of PKU previously visited Edinburg University in November 2013 to attend an opening ceremony of a Chinese Studies Center at their university. During the September 17, 2015, they mainly discussed issues of cooperation between the Chinese Studies Center at Edinburg University and the British Studies Center at PKU, which they had agreed upon when Professor Wang visited Edinburg University 2 years ago.
The collaboration is designed to encourage Chinese and British students and scholars to interact more frequently and meaningfully. Firstly, both faculties of the universities stressed the importance of cooperation, which not only can strengthen ties between two universities but also between two peoples, “We have created a very good foundation to encourage good relations between the UK and China,” Professor Jeffery said.
After the Edinburg University and PKU teams revised and reviewed the details of the already-existing and successful exchange program for undergrad students, the next point on their itinerary was to discuss an exchange program for Ph.D. students and faculty members. Development of the even higher education would be symbolic of strengthening relationship between the two universities. “Challenges that we would encounter are very detailed administrative ones,” Professor Jeffery said.
At the end of the meeting, both universities agreed to work on the expansion of the exchange programs and keep encouraging interaction between the Chinese Studies Center at Edinburg University and the British Studies Center at PKU. Professor Wang said that “globalization is the key in today’s world”, and he hopes to create environment and interests to attract more oversea students to study here at PKU. After the meeting, they exchanged the souvenirs and took photos.
Written by Ami Higuchi
