University of Limerick

The University of Limerick recently hosted a Chinese New Year Gala to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Students and staff at the banquet celebrated the arrival of the year of the dragon with a performance of traditional music and dance. The dragon symbolises power, strength and nobility along with possessing traits of generosity, independence, ambition and passion. The Chinese Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the start of fifteen days of celebrations. The most significant Chinese festival in the year is now celebrated worldwide.  Chinese tradition holds that those born in dragon years tend to be brave, innovative and highly driven.

There is a strong Chinese community in UL with over 100 Chinese staff, researchers and students on campus. The university has a number of well established partnerships in China. In co-operation with Tongji University, Shanghai, a double masters programme is offered in Financial Services and Computational Finance. At undergraduate level a joint programme is offered to Science and Engineering students from the University of Science and Technology Beijing. Each year, the university hosts exchange students from a number of Chinese universities including Jilin and Tianjin. At research level UL is a partner in the prestigious China Scholarship Council postgraduate programme and offers eight scholarships annually. The establishment of the UL China Office in Beijing in September 2010 has furthered the university’s activities. In addition to existing partnerships in Beijing and Shanghai the University is currently working with universities in the provinces of Shandong, Henan and Zhejiang to develop new joint programmes in engineering and business.

Orna Cullinan, Josephine Page, International Education Division, Professor Paul McCutcheon, Vice President Academic and Registrar, Jiang Xue student from the University of Science and Technology Beijing, Ya Nan Wang, International Education Division, Dr Erzeng Xue, UL Lecturer

Commenting on UL’s activities in China Josephine Page, Head of International Education, said: “The Chinese students at the University of Limerick are excellent ambassadors for China.  They introduce us to modern China in a real and valuable way and create personal links and friendships between Limerick and China.  It is these students who, on return to China, will influence the institutional linkages we will foster in the future.  They will impact the relationship between Ireland and China on a host of levels, including cultural, economic and political’’

Further information on International Education at UL is available here.