On April 13, BTBU and University College Cork, Ireland, held a signing ceremony for the Letter of Intent for Comprehensive Deepening of Cooperation at UCC. Ma Jun, the Vice Mayor of Beijing, attended the signing ceremony and delivered a speech. Mao Xinshu, Vice President of BTBU, and Ursula Kilkelly, Vice President of University College Cork, signed the cooperation letter on behalf of the two side.

Ma Jun fully affirmed the cooperation achievements of the two universities over the past 20 years in his speech. He stated that Beijing actively supports BTBU in applying for Sino-foreign cooperative education institutions, adding new Sino-foreign cooperative education programs, expanding the exchanges of teaching and research staff, and jointly establishing international scientific research laboratories in fields such as food nutrition and health, computer science, artificial intelligence, and sustainable development. At the same time, students from University College Cork are also welcome to come to Beijing for exchange visits, participate in the “Study in Beijing” action plan. Beijing actively supports and encourages the two universities to strengthen cooperation and exchanges with relevant industries in China and Ireland on this basis, and continuously promotes in-depth cooperation between the two sides in key areas of common development.

Mao Xinshu expressed his gratitude to Beijing for the strong support for the cooperation between the two universities. He introduced the history of the cooperation between the two sides and briefly introduced the relevant progress of the cooperation between the university and University College Cork in recent years. He said that BTBU and University College Cork highly coincide in development concepts in terms of discipline development, talent cultivation, and scientific research cooperation. The two sides have a long-term and good cooperation foundation, which also provides a good opportunity for the two universities to carry out comprehensive and in-depth cooperation with the support of the governments of the two countries in the future. In the future, the university will strengthen cooperation with University College Cork in jointly building Sino-foreign cooperative education institutions, expanding Sino-foreign cooperative education programs, strengthening personnel exchanges, and jointly conducting scientific research, and actively promote comprehensive cooperation and exchanges between the two sides.

Ursula welcomed Vice Mayor Ma Jun and his delegation to visit University College Cork. She said that University College Cork attaches great importance to its cooperation with BTBU. The personnel exchanges between the two universities are close, and a deep friendship has been established over nearly 20 years of cooperation, which is also the result achieved with the support of the governments of China and Ireland. In the future, she hopes that with the joint efforts of the two sides, the exchanges and connections between the colleges of the two universities can be strengthened, and the cooperation and exchanges in relevant disciplines and scientific research directions can be further expanded, continuously promoting the development of the cooperation between the two sides to a deeper level. Professor Sarah Culloty, the Head of the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science at University College Cork, also introduced the achievements of the college in professional construction and scientific research, as well as the key areas for future expansion.

After the meeting, accompanied by Ursula and Mao Xinshu, Vice Mayor Ma Jun and his delegation went to Cork City Hall and met with Dan Boyle, the Mayor of Cork. The two sides exchanged views on economic and trade cooperation, high-tech industries, and two-way educational exchanges between Cork and Beijing.

Mao Xinshu led a delegation to visit University College Cork from April 11 to 13 to conduct in-depth consultations on the cooperation programs between the two sides. On April 12, the delegation held working-level exchanges with the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science and the International Office of University College Cork. The two sides had in-depth discussions on the curriculum systems and course settings of computer science, software engineering, artificial intelligence, etc., and had in-depth communication and exchanges on the work plan for promoting Sino-foreign cooperative education programs. At the same time, they met and communicated with the students of the Sino-foreign cooperative programs of BTBU who are currently studying atUniversity College Cork and the doctoral students of the innovation program of the China Scholarship Council.

Nuala Stewart, the Senior Administrative Director of Cork City Hall; Ciarán Kelleher Byrne, the Head of International Relations; Allan Kelly, the Deputy Head of the College of Science, Engineering and Food Science at University College Cork, and the Dean of the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences; Kate O’Brien, the Office Director; Wang Hui, the Research program Specialist of the College; Maurice O’Sullivan, the Person in Charge of the Sino-foreign Cooperative Education program of the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences; Professor Dirk Pesch, the Dean of the School of Computer Science and Information Technology; Professor Paul Callanan, the Dean of the School of Physics; Professor Jorge Oliveira, the Dean of the School of Engineering and Architecture; Thia Hennessy, the Head of the College of Economics and Business Law; Dr. Yin Zhengnan, a Lecturer at the Business School; Christopher Brown, the Director of the International Office; Emma Connolly, the Person in Charge of the China program; Zhang Bei, the Director of the Beijing Office; He Dongmeng, the director of International Office of BTBU; Guo Xinyuan, the director of Graduate School; Li Haisheng, the dean of School of Computer and Artificial Intelligence; and Wang Bei, the associate dean of School of Food and Health attended this event.

source: https://www.btbu.edu.cn/news/zhxw/f83af89c53e24c86a08156cb9c3e5edd.htm