On March 9th, Larry Carin, Duke Vice Provost for Research, and Haiyan Gao, DKU Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, started their two-day visit to Wuhan University to discuss future cooperation plans with WHU faculties, staff and administrators. The fruitful talks paint a new blueprint for future cooperation among the three parties who have reached a consensus on the specific action plan of WHU-Duke Research Center and other initiatives.
On the morning of March 9th, the delegation of two held discussions on the proposal for developing an interdisciplinary Applied Physical Sciences and Engineering Center and a Division of Theoretical, Mathematical and Computational Sciences (DTMCS) at DKU with faculties and staff from relevant schools, including School of Mathematics and Statistics, School of Physics and Technology, College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, School of Resources and Environmental Sciences.and the Office of Science and Technology Development at Wuhan University. The three parties reached a concensus on the necessity and significance of pushing forward such cooperative projects and discussed in detail about the specific cooperative mechanism.
After the discussion, Fei Li and Jiancheng Li, both Vice Presidents of Wuhan University, received the delegation. Academician Jingnan Liu, the current Chancellor of Duke Kunshan University (DKU), and representatives from the Office of Science and Technology Development, and the Office of International Affairs also attended the meeting. Fei Li extended a warm welcome to the delegation and reviewed the impressive achievements made in relevant cooperative areas such as physics, public health and global health. Wuhan University, as Li stressed, attached great importance to international cooperation, especially in what concerns the cooperation with Duke University, and would therefore offer maximum support to the development of Duke Kunshan University. Moreover, he also emphasized the necessity of drafting a timeline for specific action plans concerning future three-party cooperation.
Vice President Jiancheng Li then led the discussion on the present operation of DKU. As he pointed out, the old two-party cooperation has evolved into the present three-party cooperation with the establishment of DKU, whose performance shall exert a crucial impact on the international reputation and influence of both WHU and Duke. Therefore, all three parties should make joint efforts to turn DKU into a notable success.
Professor Larry Carin and Haiyan Gao gave a brief introduction to the past development and future plans for DKU, and expressed strong wishes for a continuous cooperation with WHU in a multitude of scientific fields. Academician Jingnan Liu illustrated the significance and prospect of building DKU into a world-class research university and encouraged professors from both universities to participate in interdisciplinary cooperative projects in the near future.
On the afternoon of March 9th, the delegation held talks with professors from School of Public Health, during which they reviewed the progress of the past cooperative programs, and discussed the possibility of conducting joint research and establishing a coordinated innovation platform in global health. Following that was a meeting with professors from the fields of humanities and social sciences, such as School of Political Science and Public Administration, School of Philosophy, College of Chinese Language and Literature, School of Journalism and Communication, School of History, and Department of Sociology. The focus of the conversations was the Undergraduate Global Learning Semester (UGLS) at DKU and the possibility of WHU professors conducting joint teaching with Duke professors in this program. Through this meeting, the delegation gained a deeper understanding of the status quo of teaching and research of relevant humanities and social sciences at WHU, while WHU professors also learned more about the recent collaborative project between WHU and Duke.
On the morning of March 10th, Youmei Feng, Executive Vice President of WHU met with the delegation. According to Feng, DKU ties WHU and Duke together, and with its establishment and development, all three parties involved should take this precious opportunity to conduct cooperative projects for a triple-win situation. Professor Larry Carin and Haiyan Gao thanked Feng for her hospitality and both acknowledged the positive role WHU has played in making DKU a reality. All three parties believed that there was huge room for future cooperation, and were eager to make new breakthroughs in the partnerships.
Later, the delegation met representatives from the Undergraduate Office and the International Office of WHU, with the focus of discussion on starting a degree-granting undergraduate program at DKU and a “3+1+1” program. DKU had planned to launch a degree-granting undergraduate program in its second phase of development, which would be open for students all over the globe. The program’s timeline, recruitment model, curriculum setting, and faculty composition were the center of the discussion. Following this the parties talked about the joint “3+1+1” program which concluded in a consensus and a draft that cooperation plan is soon to emerge. The joint program would be a new collaborative project between WHU, DKU and Duke, open for application to top WHU students who, if admitted, would spend the first three years at WHU, the fourth year at DKU, and the last year at Duke for graduate courses. Upon graduation, students in the program would receive a bachelor’s degree from Wuhan University and a master’s degree from Duke. According to the plan, the first stage of cooperation (the first three years) would start from the engineering field, and if working successfully, it would expand into other areas.
(Edited by Diana & Sijia Hu)
