Stronger bonds formed with tragedy-struck Chinese province

Stronger bonds formed with tragedy-struck Chinese province

Education officials from a Chinese province which has suffered tragedy on a massive scale were visiting Lincoln University last month.

In 2008 an earthquake left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing and millions homeless in Sichuan Province. The rebuild costUS$146.5 billion.

A large delegation, with senior executive management from Southwest University of Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University and Xihua University came to solidify already discussed opportunities.

Lincoln University’s Business Development Manager Dr Samuel Yu said the province had rebounded and its residents were well aware of the issues of dealing with the aftermath of earthquakes, as their hosts have had to do.

“They empathise with Christchurch's situation and are not deterred.”

The group were at Lincoln to further progress co-operative agreements signed with Deputy Vice-chancellor International and Business Development Jeremy Baker, and advance on Study Abroad initiatives to give the staff and students from the institutes the opportunity to broaden their horizons via internationalisation, he says.

Dr Yu says Southwest University of Science and Technology has a good relationship with Lincoln that spans 10 years. This will be strengthened by sending one of its plant scientists, Dr Meng Zhang, to the Bio-Protection Research Centre at Lincoln later this year to learn more about biological protection and control.

This is part of the 2015 China-New Zealand Scientist Exchange Program organised by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.

Xihua University's top talent will have an opportunity to study Master’s degrees at Lincoln’s Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce through a special partnership, called the New Zealand College of Business (NZCB)-XHU-Lincoln pathway.

This type of relationship was also extended to another Chinese University, Hunan University of Finance and Economics (HUFU), when its management team visited Lincoln earlier this month. Top students will be coming to study postgraduate via the HUFU-NZCB-Lincoln pathway.

Chinese students will also have a chance to enrol in English support programs once on-campus to further advance their skills.

ENDS

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