This morning, the IUC Asia held a Memorandum of Understanding virtual signing ceremony between Yantai University (YTU) in China and Tuscia University (UNITUS) in Italy, to engage in cooperative educational and research activities for the mutual benefits of both institutions.
Opening words were delivered by Ronald Hall, Active Senior Advisor, European Commission, Directorate General on Regional and Urban Policy. Mr Hall stated, “I am very pleased to see that the EU’s investment in projects such as IUC, together with the support of our counterpart in China, the National Development and Reform Commission, is producing such concrete results. Academic and Research cooperation are surely in the best interest for both Europe and China favouring sustainable and green development through improved education and innovation.“
The signed MoUs were presented by Prof. Guo Shanli, President of Yantai University and Prof. Stefano Ubertini, Rector of Tuscia University. Prof. Simone Severini, Deputy Rector for International Relations of UNITUS and Prof. Song Zhongmin, Vice-President for International Relations also expressed their pleasure to be working in collaboration together. Prof. Severini referred to the few areas of cooperation (see below) and possible next steps, including the identification of specific tasks and the promotion of bilateral collaboration at international events. Prof. Song introduced Yantai University, focused on the School of Agriculture and Enology, and mentioned the cooperation with other European cities. Professor Ubertini introduced the campuses of Tuscia University and existing collaborations with other Chinese cities. Closing remarks were delivered by Pablo Gándara, IUC Team Leader, who referred to the policy context of the bilateral cooperation, a prior Chinese cities’ visit to Viterbo back in 2015 and the next possible steps for the cooperation. The meeting was moderated by Oscar Prat van Thiel, Senior Expert at the IUC project.
The cooperation agreement originates from several introductory sessions realised by the European Union’s International Urban Cooperation (IUC) project. YTU and UNITUS intend to expand and promote their mutual interests to establish also academic cooperation for the purpose promoting educational and scientific exchange in the agricultural, forestry, food science, landscape and urban environment sectors.
Cooperation between YTU and UNITUS will be developed in the following fields:
- joint curricular activities in education and teaching, such as summer/winter schools;
- collaboration on Doctoral student exchange and on co-supervised Doctoral thesis;
- collaborative research projects and studies;
- collaborative academic and scientific publications;
- exchange of undergraduate and graduate students;
- exchange of research and teaching staff;
- exchange of academic publications and scholarly documents;
- collaboration in the WINEgROVER project (LIFE19 ENV/IT/000339) (DIBAF, Tuscia University Coordination) an EU funded LIFE Environment and Resource Efficiency project.
Press Release – Press Coverage_Yantai University and the University of Tussia_CN
Agenda – Agenda Online Signing Ceremony YTU and UNITUS_Final
Presentation by IUC Team Leader, Pablo – Gandara_Yantai Tuscia PPT
