[dropcap]DCU[/dropcap] President Brian MacCraith led a delegation that travelled to South Korea and China last month to expand engagement and enhance ties to third-level institutions in Asia.
The Far-East trip included discussion on ongoing cooperation projects and the signing of a number of significant agreements which will see increased research, development and student exchange between the parties.
The delegation first travelled to Seoul to visit Hanyang University (HYU) in order to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which established HYU, currently ranked second in South Korea, as DCU’s strategic partner in South Korea’s capital.
After the stop in Seoul, the delegation then travelled to Beijing to visit a number of partner universities including Communications University of China (CUC), Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) and University of International Business and Economics (UIBE).
AACSB accredited pair UIBE School of Business and DCU Business school agreed to work more closely on a wide range of research initiatives in the near future.
To support Ireland’s “Country of Honour” status at this year’s China Annual Conference for International Education (CACIE), MacCraith delivered a presentation on DCU’s success in innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education, with a particular focus on initiatives such as the DCU Ryan Academy, Insight and the DCU Alpha Innovation campus.
The DCU group then travelled to Wuhan to join up with a large delegation led by the Ambassador of Ireland to China Paul Kavanagh and Deputy First Secretary of the Department of Education and Skills in Ireland Mary Doyle to visit Wuhan University (WHU).
During the stop, MacCraith signed another Memorandum of Understanding, this time with President Li of WHU to reaffirm the present commitments between the two universities.
The DCU delegations last stop before returning to Ireland was at Shanghai, where they were guests at East China Normal University (ECNU), one of China’s top universities in the field of education, for discussions on collaborations in education, computer science and sports science.
This would see DCU’s final agreement being made which will see DCU students studying the Chinese language potentially having the opportunity to go on student exchange at the Shanghai institution in the future.
Brein McGinn
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