WIT News
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Irish and Chinese students to swap places during postgraduate studies Posted: Tue, April 20, 2010 |
A new international higher education agreement will see postgraduate students from Waterford Institute of Technology spend time at a leading Chinese university as part of their programme. Similarly, students from the Dalian Maritime University will complete placements in Waterford while pursuing their Masters degree programmes in information and communications technology.
Prof Kieran R Byrne, President, Waterford Institute of Technology and Prof Dr Wang Zuwen, President, Dalian Maritime University signed the agreement during a meeting also attended by Mícheál Ó Foghlú, Executive Director - Research, Telecommunications Software & Systems Group, Waterford Institute of Technology and his colleague Dr Huaiguo Fu who is originally from northeast China and previously worked in Chinese higher education.
With an increasingly well-educated population estimated at over 1.3 billion, 20 per cent of whom are aged 14 or under, China is recognised as an ever more important economic powerhouse.
Over 350 students from the country pursued programmes at Waterford Institute of Technology in the 2001-2009 period. In addition, the Institute has existing partnerships with five Chinese universities covering the joint delivery of programmes and student transfers. Collaborative research links have also been created that see research teams in Waterford work closely with counterparts at Chinese universities.
In addition to lectures delivered by satellite link, three computing
lecturers from Waterford deliver modules from the BSc in Applied
Computing to 250 Waterford-registered students at Nanjing University of
Information Science & Technology.
Waterford Institute of
Technology is also working more closely with Dalian University of
Technology on targeted areas including telecommunications software
research. The latest agreement is with Dalian Maritime University
(DMU) which is located in the coastal city of Dalian in north-eastern
China’s Liaoning province. Strategically located within reach of Japan,
South Korea and eastern Russia, Dalian is an international centre for
finance and tourism and has 22 higher education institutions. The city
is the first in China to receive the ‘Global 500’ award from the United
Nations in recognition of its excellent living environment.
With
17,000 students, DMU has 13 colleges and more than 4,000 overseas
students and professionals have been educated and trained at the
university.
Commenting on the initiative, Prof Byrne said it
represents a further strengthening of the existing ties between
Waterford and some of China’s leading higher education institutions.
“Built over almost 10 years now, we have excellent relationships with
our peer universities in China and the latest alliance with Dalian
Maritime University builds on this. There is a particularly good fit in
this instance as Dalian has a particular focus on software research and
development which dovetails with our own Telecommunications Software
Systems Group (TSSG) which has earned an excellent international
reputation.
“Indeed, Dalian is China’s model city for international software and outsourcing. More than 30 multi-nationals have established software, research and development and outsourcing operations there. This makes it a particularly interesting city with which to forge ever deeper links as we build on the sound foundations already in place. For the students who participate in the exchange programme while pursuing their Masters there is an excellent opportunity to learn about new cultures and ways of working while also advancing their core skills.”
Further information is available at http://www.wit.ie/ and http://english.dlmu.edu.cn/