HUST and the Queen Mary University of London gathered online

On the afternoon of September 23, HUST and the Queen Mary gathered online, to jointly review the cooperation and interactions in the past, discuss ways towards in-depth cooperation, and sign the “Key Partnership Agreement”. Li Yuanyuan, President of HUST, Chen Jianguo, Vice President of HUST, Colin Bailey, President and Principal of Queen Mary, Colin Grant, Vice Principal (International) of Queen Mary, Martin Walley, British Deputy Consul General in Wuhan, and heads of the Office of International Affairs, relevant administrative departments and schools of the two universities attended the ceremony.

President Li Yuanyuan gave a speech

In his speech, President Li Yuanyuan pointed out that both China and the UK enjoyed splendid civilizations and long history. The two countries have made fruitful achievements on educational exchanges and cooperation with numerous highlights, which contribute to educational development and social progress of two countries, and promote the inclusiveness, mutual learning and connectivity between Eastern and Western Civilizations. Queen Mary University of London , with a time-honored history, is an important partner of HUST in the UK. The two universities have a solid foundation for cooperation and exchanges, strong similarities and complementarities in terms of preponderant disciplines and development strategies, and broad prospects for cooperation on the way forward. He further noted that the signing of this “Key Partnership Agreement” not only represented the outcome of our friendly cooperation over the past years, but also provided an opportunity to open a new chapter of comprehensive and pragmatic cooperation for the next stage. The two universities were expected to further enrich the forms and contents of the cooperation, create cooperation brands, and make greater contributions to the development of science and well-being of mankind based on openness, inclusiveness, mutual learning, and mutual benefits.

Colin Bailey, President and Principal of Queen Mary, spoke highly of the prosperous development of HUST in recent years and outcomes of pragmatic cooperation between the two universities. He recalled the cooperation and mutual assistance between the two universities in response to the COVID-19. He expressed that Queen Mary attached great importance to the Key Partnership Program with HUST, and looked forward to jointly fulfilling this solemn commitment with HUST in the long run. In addition, the two universities already laid considerable basis for cooperation and exchanges in a series of areas, such as material science, biomedicine, industrial design, etc. Looking ahead, it was expected to further expand and strengthen joint talent training and scientific research under the framework of the Agreement, join hands to strive for excellence, and set an example for sincere cooperation between Chinese and British universities.

Martin Walley,British Deputy Consul General in Wuhan

Chen Jianguo,Vice Presidentof HUST

Martin Walley, British Deputy Consul General in Wuhan, mentioned in his speech that China and the UK shared broad development prospects in the fields such as life science, health and medicine. Mutual assistance and cooperation between HUST and Queen Mary in face of the pandemic was the best proof of that. In the future, the British Consulate-General in Wuhan would continue to strongly support the exchanges and cooperation between the two universities, and provide all necessary assistance for the implementation of the Key Partnership Program.

Office of International Affairs of HUST briefed highlights and prospects of collaboration between the two universities

In the strategic dialogue, Tian Wan from Office of International Affairs of HUST briefly reviewed highlights of collaboration and interactions between the two universities and came up with suggestions and proposals for expanding the cooperation based on the “Key Partnership Agreement”. Vice President Chen Jianguo further exchanged insights with Vice-Principal Colin Grant. Vice-Principal Colin Grant expressed his confidence in the future of cooperation between the two universities as a witness and participant of the evolving partnership. Moving forward, he would continue to spare no efforts to support such exchanges and cooperation from the level of senior management. Vice President Chen Jianguo elaborated on the action plan for deepening the cooperation in the next phase, for example, organizing the Partner University Day, launching the seed funding for joint research, etc.

Yang Zhi,Dean of School ofManagement

XuJianfeng, DeputyDean of School of Mechanical Science and Engineering

In the discussion, Yang Zhi, Dean of School of Management of HUST, Xu Jianfeng, Deputy Dean of School of Mechanical Science and Engineering of HUST, Richard Grose, Dean for International (School of Medicine and Dentistry) and Ioannis Kokkoris, Director of International and External Engagement (Humanities and Social Sciences) shared their proposals for collaboration based on their respective disciplines. The two universities unanimously expressed that they would further enhance exchanges and cooperation in the future through joint student training, online academic forums, joint application for scientific research projects and other ways.

Li Yuanyuan, President of HUST, and Colin Bailey, President and Principal of Queen Mary, signed the Agreement together online

At the end of the meeting, Li Yuanyuan, President of HUST, and Colin Bailey, Principal of Queen Mary signed the “Key Partnership Agreement” together online, marking the formal establishment of key partnership between the two universities.

The “Key Partnership Initiative” is a major initiative for global engagement launched by HUST for the next 5 years, aiming to pooling resources for more targeted international exchanges and collaboration based on mutual interests and benefits. Under this framework, HUST will further develop sustainable exchanges and collaboration with its key partners in talent training, joint scientific research, people-to-people exchanges, and other areas conducive to progress and development of the human society.

Founded in 1785, the Queen Mary University of London is a member of the Russell Group in the UK, with worldwide recognition of its academic and research competence in the fields of medicine, engineering, science and business. By now, Queen Mary has been the cradle of nine Nobel Prize winners. HUST and Queen Mary formally established partnership in 2019, with a number of cooperative agreements on student exchanges and joint talent training in place. Scholars of the two universities have delivered a good deal of outcomes through academic and research cooperation in the fields of materials engineering, biomedicine, industrial design, and so on.

Link to the related article published on Queen Mary website: https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2021/pr/queen-mary-cements-partnership-with-the-huazhong-university-of-science-and-technology.html

Edited by: Tian Wan, Peng Yumeng