University College Dublin (UCD) and Beijing University of Technology have signed a landmark agreement to establish a joint campus in Beijing. The campus, which is yet to be named, will deliver degree programmes in business, science and engineering and welcomes its first intake of students in September 2012.
The agreement is expected to advance research links between the two universities and study abroad opportunities for Irish students. The partnership – between a Chinese municipal university (which is run by local as opposed to central government) and a foreign institution – is a first in China, and was called a “milestone” by Beijing’s mayor, Guo Jinlong, who was instrumental in finalising the agreement.
UCD President Dr Hugh Brady said: “The agreement came about very quickly… The twinning of the cities of Beijing and Dublin [in May] was the inspiration, and it gave us the support of the mayor.”
Over the past decade, University College Dublin has established links with a range of universities across China, delivering a BSc in software engineering at Fudan University in Shanghai and running the UCD-Shenzhen Institute of Health Science and Innovation with Shenzhen University.
Beijing University of Technology will add prestige to this network, being a member of the government initiative Project 211 to raise research standards at high-level universities. According to sources, Project 211 schools train four-fifths of China’s doctoral students, two-thirds of graduate students, half of students from abroad and one-third of undergraduates.