Professor Dominic Houlihan, Vice Principal for Research and Commercialisation, University of Aberdeen, was delighted to sign an agreement at the weekend with Principal Zhang JianHua of China Agriculture University in Beijing.
This is the culmination of three meetings with President Zhang who came to visit the University of Aberdeen a year ago and who has kindly hosted meetings in the CAU in Beijing and Yantai for Professor Houlihan.
The agreement allows for an exchange of students during the summer between the two universities - Aberdeen students will be able spend a few days in Beijing and then some weeks in Yantai in the Shandong province. Yantai is a very pleasant city on the coast with many new buildings and excellent accommodation for visiting students.
The agreement also permits students to come from CAU to Aberdeen under a 2 + 2 agreement where two years in China can be followed by two years in Aberdeen leading to the award of an Aberdeen degree.
Professor Houlihan said: "We also hope that staff from both universities will visit Beijing and Yantai. This is the fifth significant agreement signed between the University and Chinese universities in the last few years."
Professor Houlihan is a guest of the Research Councils UK who are opening an office in Beijing on Tuesday, October 30 and he will be visiting the Vice Principal of Wuhan University and signing an agreement with Huazhong University of Science and Technology Vice Principal in Wuhan. In addition, he will be attending the Beijing Forum and will meet with the China Scholarship Council as part of the University's continued strong involvement with China.
The photograph above shows Professor Houlihan and Professor Zhang, along with other colleagues from the Chinese Agricultural University, together with Chris Bayley who acts as an agent for the University of Aberdeen across in China.