University of Edinburgh, Peking University signs MoU

The University of Edinburgh and China's Peking University on Monday signed in Edingurgh a memorandum of understanding on establishing joint centers for the study of Britain and China.

The move will lead to the creation of a world-leading center in China studies at the University of Edinburgh and a Britain studies center at Peking University, which will create an environment for world-leading research on both countries and a hub of teaching and research across the two universities to develop cutting-edge interdisciplinary joint research in strategic areas.

Addressing the signing ceremony, Sir Timothy O'Shea, principal of the University of Edinburgh, said, "This is a very exciting partnership with one of the region's most respected universities. We look forward to training a new generation of China experts in Scotland: people who can help address the opportunities and challenges facing a country with a huge economic, geo-political and cultural role in the world."

For her part, the Scottish government's Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop said the establishment of the joint research centers "will now take the relationship between both universities to a new level."

"This joint collaboration has the potential to create a pool of world class, game-changing expertise in academia and research in China studies and UK studies that will benefit students, staff and the wider communities," she said.

Shen Yang, Minister Counsellor for Education at the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom, hailed the move as a new fruit of the bilateral cooperation between the two universities, which will promote the people-to-people exchanges between China and Britain and achieve better mutual understanding.

Liu Wei, Executive Vice President of Peking University, said the Britain studies center at Peking University, which is expected to be launched in 2015, will gather experienced academics for recommended students of high quality, about 70 percent of them to be foreign students.

Also present at the ceremony were Chinese Consul General in Edinburgh Li Ruiyou and Vice Principal International Steve Hiller, among others.

An incomplete edition of a precious and rarely seen Chinese book "Zhouyi zhuanyi Daquan" (Complete Commentaries on the Changes of Zhou), published in 1440, was also displayed at the signing ceremony after having been brought out of storage at the Main Library of the University of Edinburgh.