UESTC visit to Zhejiang University
Published: 20 December 2023
Staff from UESTC visited the International campus of Zhejiang University recently to meet and learn from colleagues at the Edinburgh-Zhejiang and Illinois-Zhejiang institutes.
Dr Robert Partridge, Executive Dean of Glasgow College Hainan, UESTC reports on the visit
The Chinese say that there is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou on earth. For this reason amongst others, I always enjoy my visits to Zhejiang University: the West Lake area of Hangzhou really is close to heaven on earth.
Edinburgh and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have established joint ventures with Zhejiang University but, as I discovered on a recent visit, they are based in Haining which is more functional than beautiful. Having said that, Zhejiang University’s international campus is an oasis of calm, built to international standards.
The Edinburgh-Zhejiang institute operates in the field of biomedical sciences, with a strong focus on postgraduate study and research. Their building is equipped with impressive laboratory facilities. Up to now, biomedical sciences have not been hugely popular with Chinese students and so student numbers are small, which means the institute feels very different from Glasgow College.
The Illinois folks are operating a joint engineering college, in which teaching and research are more balanced. We could learn from their innovative curriculum and approach to final year ‘projects’, which are design-led and group-based. I am confident we could deliver these with the blessing of our friends in UK export control!
Whilst there are fly-in/fly-out staff, there is also a permanent – and genuinely diverse – staffing base on the ground in Haining. Interestingly, the international campus has found a way of supporting the career development of its international academic staff inside a Chinese university. Whilst it may not be heaven on earth, it certainly inspired those of us from UESTC and Glasgow who were involved in the visit.
Text by Dr Robert Partridge, Executive Dean of Glasgow College Hainan, UESTC.
Image shows: Professor Ce Zhu (Dean of Glasgow College Hainan, UESTC), Ms. Zhiyi 'Carrie' Yu (Section Chief of the Student Affairs Centre - International Cooperation, at UESTC) and Dr Robert Partridge, with colleagues from UESTC and ZJU-UIUC.
First published: 20 December 2023