Queen Mary’s president and principal professor Colin Bailey and president of HUST Yuanyuan Li signed the memorandum of understanding in London, and in Wuhan, where HUST is based.

Martin Walley, deputy consul general at the British Consulate-General, also attended in Wuhan.

The institutions said the move will create “opportunities for collaboration” and “open doors to students, researchers and staff”.

“We are thrilled to be building our partnership with the Huazhong University of Science and Technology,” said Colin Grant, Queen Mary’s vice principal international.

“For many years we’ve worked hard to be a truly global university, which is only possible by building bridges with other leading institutions from around the world.”

The agreement, which aims to establish new programs, exchanges, summer schools and joint research institutes, will firstly focus on research and study in the fields of medicine, engineering, economics and management.

Queen Mary has said other subjects may be explored further down the line.

“We will create unrivalled opportunities for achieving scientific breakthroughs and academic excellence”

HUST and Queen Mary have worked together since 2019, as HUST’s vice president explained.

“The past few years have seen multiple mutual exchanges at senior level, and diversified programs in teaching as well as research have been put in place to bring the two institutions closer,” Jianguo Chen said.

This continued into the pandemic as Wuhan’s Tongji Hospital and HUST’s medical school shared their experience in makeshift hospitals with Queen Mary’s Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry in the fight against Covid-19.

“The signing of the key partnership agreement… is a major milestone for our collaboration and partnership, which I am sure will continue to thrive and flourish in the years to come,” Chen added.

Grant was also keen to express his optimism on the “latest step” in the institutions’ “exciting journey together”.

“Together with HUST, we will create unrivalled opportunities for achieving scientific breakthroughs and academic excellence.”

Queen Mary also said it hoped to welcome HUST students to their London campus, and see its own students travelling to Wuhan to utilise the “student mobility opportunities with HUST” in the coming months and years.