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Signing of Partner Agreement paves way for more Chinese students

August 22, 2006

huayin.jpgA senior delegation from Huaiyin Institute of Technology, in Jiangsu Province, China, formalised a Partner Agreement with The University of New England last week during a visit to UNE’s Armidale campus. It is the first international agreement that the university-equivalent Institute has made, and it was the first visit by its senior officials to Australia.

The signing coincided with the publication of UNE’s five-star ratings in several categories – including “overall educational experience” and “teaching quality” – in The Good Universities Guide 2007, and the inclusion of UNE in the Shanghai Institute of Higher Education’s list of the “top 100 Asian universities”.

The Vice-President of Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Professor Liu Jianhua, said these accolades confirmed that they had chosen an ideal international partner for the future, and he was sure UNE’s recognised tradition of providing high-quality education would appeal to his students considering studies overseas. Displaying the Armidale Independent newspaper with its front-page headline about UNE’s five-star ratings, he said: “UNE is one of the best universities we have visited, and has the educational disciplines we are looking for – particularly in the areas of science, and economics, business and law. I can’t wait to show our University President how highly Australia values this university.”

The Director of the Institute’s Office of Foreign Affairs, Associate Professor Dai Meisheng, said Chinese students currently at UNE were very positive about their cultural, social and academic experiences in Armidale. “This provides reassurance for us to promote UNE to students in our region, as they will not only be able to visit a beautiful area, but will benefit from living in a very friendly community and learning from excellent teachers,” she said.

Associate Professor Dai explained that the association with UNE began when UNE’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (Development and International), Professor Robin Pollard, visited the Institute’s trade display at an education expo in Seattle, USA, in May 2005.

After returning to China she searched for UNE on the Internet and was sufficiently impressed to take the next step and host a visit by Professor Pollard and the former UNE Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ingrid Moses, in October 2005. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed during the visit. After visits this year by UNE’s Executive Dean of the Faculty of The Sciences, Professor Margaret Sedgley, and Head of the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Professor A.S.M. Sajeev, arrangements were made for a visit to UNE to formalise relations.

Stuart Allardice, Armidale Dumaresq Council's Tourism and Marketing Manager, visited the Huaiyin Institute of Technology in November last year to assist in the development of closer links with UNE and Armidale. “It was wonderful to see the delegation from Huaiyin visiting UNE,” Mr Allardice said. “The comments and feedback from the visitors have been most reassuring, and look promising for further growth and development between Huaiyin, UNE and the Armidale community.”

“This is only the beginning of our association,” said Professor Liu. “We plan a long and fruitful arrangement with UNE. The current Agreement is for undergraduate students only, and we hope to cooperate to send postgraduate students also. We have many good photos of UNE for our promotion in China, and after we get back we will ask the President for a special office for us to carry out our program to send many students to UNE in the future.”

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows the Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew, receiving a token gift from the Vice-President of the Huaiyin Institute, Professor Liu Jianhua.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at August 22, 2006 04:20 PM