Otago to sign MOU with China's Fudan University

The University of Otago will this Friday sign a Memorandum of Understanding and Student Exchange Agreement with one of China’s most prestigious universities, Fudan University.

The move follows a similar signing of agreements with another of China’s leading universities, Tsinghua University, last week. Both result from a University of Otago delegation, led by Vice-Chancellor Professor David Skegg, which visited the universities in 2007.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) Professor Sarah Todd says she is delighted by the formal establishment of links with Shanghai’s Fudan University, which, during the 2007 visit, was identified as an excellent match for Otago.

“Fudan is consistently rated as one of the top three universities in China and is a member of the C9 League, which is an association of nine leading Chinese universities. Following this latest move, Otago now enjoys formal links with four of the League’s elite institutions,” Professor Todd says.

Fudan is a comprehensive university that is highly ranked in physical sciences, humanities, social sciences, and medicine, she says.

“Several potential areas for mutual academic co-operation have been identified and we look forward to developing these opportunities.”

As well as paving the way for academic and research collaborations between the institutions at staff and postgraduate levels, undergraduate students from Otago will now be able to study at Fudan for a semester through the exchange agreement, she says.

The new agreements would also strengthen Dunedin’s sister-city links with Shanghai, Professor Todd added.

Fudan University is composed of four campuses and has more than 45,000 students enrolled including fulltime, part-time, continuing education and online education students.

The signing will take place at the University on Friday morning during the visit of a delegation of senior academic leaders from Fudan.