Peking University, December 11, 2016: From November 24 to 27, PKU President Lin Jianhua went to Berlin to attend the Sino-German Forum on Higher Education and Technology Innovation. He also visited Freie Universität Berlin and signed a joint post-doctoral training agreement.
The Sino-German Forum on Higher Education and Technology Innovation was held at Freie Universität Berlin on November 25. The Forum this year is held along with the seventh "Hamburg Summit: China meets Europe", aiming to promote educational exchanges and collaboration between China and Germany. The Forum is hosted by the Ministry of Education of China and Germany, and co-organized by China Scholarship Council and Freie Universität Berlin. Senior officials of the school administration from more than sixty universities in China and Germany attended the Forum, holding talks on the challenges and opportunities of Sino-German cooperation, as well as how to build world-class academic institutions.
Vice Premier Liu Yandong delivering a speech
Liu Yandong, Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China, attended the Forum in the afternoon and delivered a speech. She hailed the sound growth momentum of bilateral ties in the past 44 years, pointing to high-level exchanges and closer cooperation in education and technology, which has become the spotlight of the cultural exchanges of the two countries. She pointed out that in the face of the difficult structural changes to its economy, China should focus on innovation as the driving force of state economic development. China and Germany have long emphasized the importance of education and innovation, thus there is a huge potential for cooperation between the two countries.
Peter-André Alt, President of Freie Universität Berlin, also emphasized the long-standing friendship of the higher education of the two countries. Peking University and Freie Universität Berlin share a long history of cooperation in various fields, including the sustainable campus program.
Lin Jianhua giving a speech
Lin Jianhua also made a speech at the opening ceremony. He pointed out the profound impact that German education has had on its Chinese counterpart. In the last century, President Cai Yuanpei introduced German education patterns to China, which has had a positive impact on Chinese universities. In the era of globalization, Chinese education should have a global vision and aim to build world-class universities while adhering to Chinese characteristics. Peking University has witnessed a tenfold increase in the number of academic essays published and the amount of scientific research funds, which has been attributed to international cooperative programs to a large extent. The strategic partnership between Peking University and Freie Universität Berlin is a good example of the higher education collaboration and educational exchanges between China and Germany.
In addition, Lin Jianhua also visited Freie Universität Berlin and met Peter-André Alt, signing an agreement on the joint post-doctoral instructional program in the field of regional research and applied mathematics. The selection of students will be made by expert committees from both schools, and qualified applicants will spend one year at Peking University and Freie Universität Berlin respectively to conduct academic research, under the instruction from professors in both schools. Lin and Alt also held in-depth discussions on the cooperation of other scientific institutions and other key issues.
Lin Jianhua and Peter-André Alt
Written by: You Danqian
Edited by: Xu Liangdi
