CUHK(SZ) holds Intl. Partners Day

Representatives and exchange students from 18 partner universities of Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, pose for a group photo at the university’s first International Partners Day yesterday. Zhang Qian

Email of the writer: zhqcindy@163.com

By inviting representatives from 18 partner universities around the world, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK(SZ)) organized its first International Partners Day yesterday, aiming to bring more exchange programs to its students.

Representatives from universities, including University of British Columbia, University of California, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, Bocconi University, University of Hong Kong and University of Queensland, gave speeches introducing the collaborative programs they have inked with CUHK(SZ) for the students.

“International Partners Day is an opportunity for our students to have face-to-face communication with representatives from our partner universities to learn more about available exchange programs, and we believe it can also help to develop more projects in the future,” said Ke Changqing, director of CUHK(SZ)’s Academic Link Office.

The director explained that the university currently has collaborative projects with 77 universities around the globe and it invited 18 partner institutions to attend this year’s International Partners Day.

“Our university aims at providing a nurturing global education environment for students and we are proud to say that over 60 percent of our current students have participated in overseas programs to gain credit points, which is a very high rate among Chinese universities,” said the director.

Brendon Lutwyche, representing University of Queensland (UQ) as the director of international services, told the Shenzhen Daily it was his second visit to CUHK(SZ)’s campus. His first visit was this March when the two universities inked an agreement on exchange programs.

“We have a general agreement and partnership with CUHK(SZ) and students can come to our university for one semester or one year. They can also join our summer program in July,” said the director.

According to Lutwyche, UQ has a new partnership with CUHK(SZ) that allows students to spend one year on their undergraduate program before joining a master’s in global management program.

For this master’s program, students will study at UQ for one year and spend the second year at one of UQ’s partner universities in Italy, Norway, Finland, France or Canada. Students will earn two degrees from the two overseas universities by completing this master’s program.

“It’s very important in today’s society to have experiences of different cultures by living abroad, so as to get better understanding of people from different parts of the world,” said Lutwyche. The director said UQ is expecting that more students from CUHK(SZ) will join the exchange programs.

Besides administrative staff members from the partner universities, some students who are currently enrolled in the exchange programs at CUHK(SZ) are also representing their original universities for the event. Nicola Manera from Bocconi University in Italy is representing his university as an exchange student.

“We are talking with students from CUHK(SZ) who are interested in master’s programs or summer programs at our university, because Bocconi University has a strong partnership with CUHK(SZ),” said Manera. The master’s exchange student thinks that CUHK(SZ) is a competitive university in China due to its strong faculty, which includes some Nobel Prize winners.

The director of the Academic Link Office said the event would last two days. The representatives introduced their programs and communicated with students face-to-face yesterday and will visit several places in Shenzhen, including museums and Huawei’s headquarters, to learn more about the city.