The signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE) and the Group of Eight of Australia's Leading Universities (G8) was held on 17 October, during the 2019 China Annual Conference for International Education & Expo. UCAS is among the first group of China’s top universities to join the cooperation mechanism with G8.
The first group of Chinese universities to sign the MOU includes Shanghai Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University, Nanjing University, University of Science and Technology of China, Wuhan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology, and Xi 'an Jiaotong University. The G8, regarded as the Ivy League of Australia, includes the following top eight research-oriented comprehensive universities in Australia: University of Western Australia (UWA), University of Monash, Australian National University (ANU), University of Adelaide, University of Melbourne, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, and the University of New South Wales.
According to the MOU, all the universities involved will cooperate in the following areas: promoting joint research in frontier disciplines; establishing joint laboratories; promoting cooperation between university think tanks; and holding joint education forums. In 2020, a Sino-Australia University Alliance will be established. As a result, a variety of activities will soon be held, including a Sino-Australia dialogue on higher education policy, workshops on various disciplines, and the Maker Movement between students from participating countries.
In 2016, UCAS signed agreements with ANU and UWA, sending 65 undergraduates to study in these two universities, including students majoring in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Materials, Biology and Computer Science.
Over the past five years, supported by the China Scholarship Council, UCAS has also sent dozens of graduate students to study in Australia, where students have pursued joint doctorate degrees, covering different disciplines in science and technology at ANU, University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, and Queensland University.
Author: XIA Yu
Photos from CEAIE
Edited by GAO Yuan
