Keele University affirms commitment to high-quality partnerships in China


MoU4
Posted on 22 June 2017

Keele University welcomed two high-level delegations from Chinese partners to Keele last week to enable future collaboration.

A Memorandum of Understanding agreement between Keele and Guangzhou University was signed last week at the Guangdong Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference in London, where Keele was represented by Dr Mark Bacon, Director of Engagement and Partnerships. The Guangdong Province Party Secretary, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK and the British Secretary of State were also present.

Guangzhou University and Keele have already been successfully working together for several years in the area of Biotechnology. Delegates visited campus on June 16th and Professors Ying Yang and Nick Forsyth were awarded Guest Professorships at Guangzhou University. Professor Richard Luther, Dean of Internationalisation, led high-level discussions on areas of future collaboration and research across all three Keele faculties.

MoU3 On June 15th, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark Ormerod and colleagues from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, including Head of the School of Social Science and Public Policy, Professor Steven Shardlow (pictured left), welcomed Vice-President Wu from the Beijing Administration Institute (BAI) and his delegation to sign a Memorandum of Understanding and discuss areas of mutual interest and potential collaboration.

When visiting BAI last month for preliminary discussions Professor Luther presented his research on populist mobilization.
Professor Luther said: “These visits underscore the considerable progress being made in delivering the University’s International Strategy. This includes not only developing high-quality partnerships that comprise both teaching and research, but also increasing the subject diversity of Keele’s engagement in China.”

Professor Shardlow will visit BAI later this month to continue collaboration discussions. A group of Guangzhou University students are coming to Keele for a week-long research trip in July and Professor Forsyth will be visiting Guangzhou University in October to deliver a seminar and continue discussions around joint research opportunities.