Posted 20 February 2012
First international university announced for Beijing
University College Dublin signs contract to establish Beijing-Dublin International College in partnership with Beijing University of Technology
During his first official visit to Ireland, Mr Xi Jinping, Vice-President of People’s Republic of China, along with An Taoiseach, Mr Enda Kenny, witnessed the historic contract-signing between University College Dublin (UCD) and Beijing University of Technology (BJUT) to establish the first international university in the Chinese capital.
The contract was signed in Dublin Castle by President Hugh Brady, University College Dublin, and President Guo Guangsheng, BJUT. The contract signing follows the twinning of Dublin and Beijing and the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement in Beijing in 2011.
Mr Xi Jinping, Vice-President of People’s Republic of China (back left), and An Taoiseach, Mr Enda Kenny (back right), witness the historic contract-signing between Prof Guo Guangsheng, President of Beijing University of Technology and Dr Hugh Brady, President of UCD
Pictured far right: Dr Hugh Brady, President of UCD and Prof Guo Guangsheng, President of Beijing University of Technology
The new College will have a distinctively enterprise focus and will on four areas relevant to successful enterprise development in China and Ireland: (1) science, engineering and technology; (2) business and management; (3) innovation and entrepreneurship; and (4) underpinning disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.
The first cohort of students could be admitted to the Beijing campus as early as September 2012. Importantly the new Institution will not only serve high quality Chinese students but also recruit international students to China’s capital city and serve as a study abroad location for Irish students. The Beijing-Dublin International College will initially admit 350 undergraduate students and plans to scale-up rapidly to 3,000 by year four with expansion also into postgraduate training and executive education. Innovation laboratories and enterprise facilities are also planned, building on the success of UCD’s technology transfer and incubator facility NovaUCD.
“The partnership between UCD and BJUT fits extremely well into our strategy for internationalisation and innovation.” Said UCD President, Dr Hugh Brady. “UCD already hosts over 5,000 international students in Dublin and delivers programmes abroad to over 3000 students through overseas partnerships.
The establishment of a number of overseas campuses of scale in key locations across the globe should open a host of new opportunities for Irish students, early career academics and Irish business. Indeed, while local collaboration remains important, it is likely that it will be the strength of a university’s global collaborative links that will be a more important determinant of its quality, impact and sustainability over the decades ahead.”
Beijing University of Technology is the highest ranked Chinese university funded by the Beijing Municipal Government. The UCD-BJUT partnership has received strong support from the Mayor of Beijing, Mr Guo Jinlong, and the Irish Minister for Education and Skills, Mr Ruairi Quinn.(Produced by UCD University Relations)
