The curtains rose for University of Aberdeen Day and Wuhan University International Day in the square of Wanlin Museum on November 1st with Vice President Li Fei declaring the commencement of this event. Vice Principal John Paterson together with the delegation from University of Aberdeen, representatives from British Consulate, leadership from relevant schools and administrations of WHU, teacher and student representatives from Undergraduate College, Graduate School, Office of Student Affairs, Office of Graduate Affairs and School of International Education also presented the ceremony.
The opening ceremony started with a rising and falling Scottish bagpipe in mid-afternoon. Vice President Li introduced the history of cooperation between WHU and Aberdeen in his opening address. He emphasized the achievements made by Wuhan University in international development, students’ study abroad and international education. Li pointed out that the year 2017 is the 10th anniversary of cooperation between the two universities, and both sides have launched a series of fruitful substantive cooperation: the WHU-Aberdeen Joint Research Institute was set up on the basis of teacher and student exchange and the Confucius School’s co-running. Till now, the institute already has four antecedent disciplines, which further reinforced the partnership. At the meantime, by establishing a scholarship for exchange, WHU is focusing on providing students with chances and a platform to exchange abroad, the university encourages every student who dreams of studying abroad to seize the chance and consult with the universities present at the expo.
Vice President Li giving a speech on opening ceremony
Vice Principal John Paterson from University of Aberdeen said that he was impressed by the beautifulness and gracefulness of WHU campus, along with the great zeal for knowledge showed by students here. “Achievements in cooperation between WHU and Aberdeen are remarkable”, he hopes that the interaction between schools will facilitate students to enjoy more international exchange programs.
Vice Principal Paterson giving a speech on opening ceremony
Later, Liu Jiuqing, alumni representative of Aberdeen and now a graduate student in School of Foreign Languages and Literature in WHU and Sophia, interschool exchange student from Université Paris Diderot delivered a speech on behalf of their universities. Combining their experience of cross-cultural study, they talked about the importance of study abroad from a student’s perspective. Sincere wishes were given by Liu and Sophia to international exchange in WHU at last.
WHU-Aberdeen Joint Research Institute is the latest achievement in the intercollegiate cooperative education and at the same time, a new way that makes cross-cultural study more approachable. "The Research Institute of Environmental Law in WHU is the first teaching and research institute for environment and energy protecting law in China，even the first in Asian-Pacific. International characteristics can be found in the faculty, the teaching curriculum and the research subjects of the institute." said representative of WHU-Aberdeen Joint Research Institute, also Dean of Law School Prof. Feng Guo. He also expected that the establishment of the joint research institute will promote the international level of discipline construction in WHU.
The event reached its climax when Vice President Li of WHU and Vice Principal Paterson of AU together inaugurated WHU-Aberdeen Research Centre of Environment and Energy Law.
Inauguration of WHU-Aberdeen Research Centre of Environment and Energy Law
During the event, students crowded around the exhibition stands of over 10 universities from Britain, America, Canada, Australia, German and France, asking questions about their study interest and plan.
Students asking questions by the exhibition stands
In his interview with journalist, Vice President Li said that compared to last year’s event, more activities were added to this year’s event such as the foreign university fair. He believes that the fair has met people's expectations since students got a channel to know more about study abroad programs. Li also mentioned that similar events should enter into the schedule, to encourage students to learn more about International exchange policy, participate in international exchange activities and develop international perspective. Vice Principal Paterson said that two universities has long history of cooperation and communication, which facilitates bilateral discipline construction and mobility; the joint research institute will also uplift thecooperative relation and add new dimension to two universities' internationalization.
Journalists from WHU English Homepage interviewing vice presidents
Earlier in the morning, the Aberdeen delegation was met by Executive Vice President of WHU Feng Youmei in the Lounge in the administration building. They called upon School of Pharmaceutical, Law School and research centres. Two sides further discussed the next cooperation plan for research and fully exchanged opinions of the curriculum setting under the research institute’s frame.
Executive Vice President Feng (third from right) met the Aberdeen delegation
It's known that friendship between WHU and University of Aberdeen is of long standing. The two universities have committed close engagement. In January 2017, Prof. Ian Diamond, Principal of AU paid a visit to WHU and signed the memo of establishing WHU-Aberdeen Joint Research Institute with Principal Dou Xiankang of WHU. The joint institute aims at cooperation in Pharmacy, Law (Environment and Energy), Power Mechanical Engineering and Computing, by the means of competitive seed fund, to deepen cooperation in research between the two universities.
WHU International Day is designed to promote in-depth different resources for the university’s international exchange, and to build the communicating and experience sharing platform for student’s international exchange. By expanding the scale of student’s study abroad, WHU hopes to foster a promising atmosphere that helps develop the international exchange culture in its students. Last year, WHU established a scholarship for exchange. The scholarship funds students to cross the border, which has served as a powerful push to student’s international exchange.
Edited by Li Yunzhen & Hu Sijia
Photo by Liu Qingyun, Liu Wanyi
