HKUST Teams Up With the International and National Finest Universities (English version)
16 August 2010 Peking University (PKU), the highest ranked liberal arts university in China and one of the leading research universities in the world, and the University of Virginia (UVa), ranked the number two Public Research University in the United States by the latest U.S. News and World Report in August 2009, deepen their partnership with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). The three universities will join hands to draw up blueprint for a globally engaged higher education and research.
A delegation from PKU led by PKU Provost Prof. Jianhua Lin is visiting the HKUST campus on August 12-13, 2010. To be followed on Aug 15-17 by a joint KUST and PKU delegation visit to UVa. The visits will entail the signing of a trilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) establishing a joint institute located at the PKU campus in Beijing, under which the three universities will work under the same roof to undertake a wide spectrum of academic exchange and research collaborations, which will be truly global in scope.
The areas identified for immediate collaboration are student and faculty exchange. The details of several specific concentrations in the humanities, social, applied, and natural sciences on dual degree programs at both the BA/BSc and the PhD level will be hammered out during the visits, including Energy and Environment Policy Studies, Social Statistics, Social Scientific History/ Historical Social Science, and a shared program of instruction in Foundational Texts and Thinking.
Creating incentives and opportunities for Hong Kong students to dual-degree at the best universities in North America and mainland China should enhance the quality and attractiveness of a UGC and an HKUST education, envisioned by Prof. James Lee, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science, HKUST.
The Hon Mrs. Laura Cha, Chairman of the University Grant Council (UGC) shows her support to the joint collaborative programs:
“I am pleased that HKUST is joining efforts with PKU and UVa to develop joint programs. UGC is keen on the internationalization of our institutions and this is certainly a very meaningful way of doing it.”
HKUST under the leadership of HKUST president Prof. Tony Chan has been deeply committed to foster partnerships with world finest universities.
“We seek to use Hong Kong’s comparative advantage to engage the Global Academe and the Chinese Academe. We use the international to make the Hong Kong Academe more national, and to use the national to make our university and Hong Kong even more international…” said Prof. Chan.
