On October 25th, Wuhan University’s first Overseas Academic Week opened at the Georg-August-University Goettingen (GAU) in Germany. The academic week, co-hosted by WHU and GAU, centered on the academic exchange in the field of law between WHU and top-tier German and French universities. The WHU delegation additionally held a recruitment fair for international scholars, and signed a joint agreement with Georg-August-University Goettingen to expand cooperation in scientific research.
The WHU Overseas Academic Week will be held annually and aims at establishing strong partnerships with internationally renowned universities and institutions, as well as promote WHU scholars’ achievements worldwide.
At the opening ceremony, the vice-chair of WHU’s council, Luo Yuting, made a speech. He pointed out that the academic week showed WHU’s international focus and determinedness to expand international cooperation.
The president of GAU, Ulrike Beisiegel, added that the academic week reflected WHU’s strong development momentum and capability in the international arena.
The Minister of Science and Culture in Lower Saxony, Josef Lange, expressed that this overseas academic week would lead to meaningful cooperation between Lower Saxony and Chinese Universities.
The Chinese consul-general in Hamburg, Yang Huiqun, spoke about the 40th anniversary of Sino-German diplomatic relations and how Sino-German cooperation has continued to evolve and deepen. He added that the academic week provided not just an exchange platform for the two universities but a wide range of scholars and researchers from the two countries.
An officer from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Frank Stiller, said the academic week would not only benefit young scholars but also would play an increasingly important role in improving mutual understanding between China and Germany, and even all of Europe.
After the opening ceremony, the “International Academic Conference on Sino-Europe Sustainable Development and Law,” one of the most important activities of the academic week, was held at GAU. Over a dozen law professors spoke at the conference.
On the same day, the WHU delegation held a recruitment fair for international scholars, attracting hundreds of professors and doctors. The WHU delegation conducted a detailed question and answer session, while Ben Boer, WHU’s first distinguished professor in liberal arts through the One Thousand Foreign Experts Project, introduced WHU’s success in international recruitment. The WHU delegation then headed to universities in other European countries for further academic consultations.
Thanks to its free scientific exploration spirit and wonderful environment, GAU plays a central role in German academia. It ranks second in Germany and 70th globally in the 2012-2013 Times World University rankings. GAU has the 8th most Nobel Prize winners in the world and is particularly famous for law. Statesmen such as Napoleon, Chancellor Bismarch, Chancellor Schroder, and jurists such as Savigny, Jhering and Oppenheim all had studied or taught there.
