Professor Paul McCutcheon, Vice President Academic and Registrar, UL and President Liu Zhigang have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Thursday 14th March to formally launch collaborative programmes between Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China and the University of Limerick. Software engineering students from HEU are due to join the UL Study Abroad programme in September 2013. The new programmes will also include collaboration at Masters and PhD level.
 
Harbin Engineering University, founded in 1953, is one of China’s leading engineering universities in both teaching and research. It is ranked among the selected Project 211 universities and has 25,000 students.  HEU offers a wide range of Engineering masters programmes through English.
 
Professor Paul McCutcheon, Vice President Academic and Registrar is currently in China attending the China Study Abroad Forum (SAF) 2013, an annual forum that provides a platform for international education specialists, domestic and international governmental representatives and higher education institutions to discuss the challenges and opportunities arising in transnational education.

At the forum, Professor McCutcheon spoke about the importance of building relationships with Chinese partner universities under this year’s theme of ‘International Cooperation: Good Practices for Capacity Building’. The University of Limerick currently has 14 partner universities in China, including a new partnership signed with Harbin Engineering University during Professor McCutcheon’s visit to China. Through cooperation with partner universities UL now offers a wide range of transnational education programmes in a number of disciplines.Professor McCutcheon will also address students of  Tianjin Foreign Studies University.

The University has a number of well-established affiliations in China and UL’s network of institutional partners in China is growing steadily. 2012/3 saw an increase in the number of undergraduate students enrolling in joint programmes from Xidian University, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Tianjin Foreign Studies University and Shandong University of Technology. Irish students have also benefitted from these collaborations with students taking part in Architecture and Business summer schools hosted by Tongji University and Tianjin University.  Over 212 scholarships have been awarded to Chinese students since 2010 which has allowed UL’s Chinese partner institutions to promote opportunities for Study Abroad at UL  to all their students.

Speaking from Beijing , Professor Paul McCutcheon, Vice President Academic and Registrar said” The Chinese community at the University of Limerick is a very important part of internationalisation agenda at UL and we are delighted to be growing our relationship with China and strengthening our partnerships with many third level institutions here.  In 2010 the University of Limerick established an office in China and I look forward to marking UL40 with our growing body of Chinese alumni in Beijing and Shanghai.”