Media Releases

U of T strengthens partnerships with top Chinese institutions

February 27, 2012

President David Naylor concludes meetings with universities in Shanghai, Beijing

TORONTO, ON – More Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to fac­ul­ty and stu­dents are poised to col­lab­o­rate with part­ners at China’s top uni­ver­si­ties, as a result of Pres­i­dent David Naylor’s recent vis­it to lead­ing insti­tu­tions in Shang­hai and Bei­jing.

The President’s week-long vis­it, which includ­ed meet­ings with key Chi­nese gov­ern­ment offi­cials and lead­ers of sev­er­al Chi­nese uni­ver­si­ties includ­ing Peking, Tsinghua, Shang­hai Jiao Tong, and Fudan uni­ver­si­ties, con­clud­ed this week with the promise of greater inter­na­tion­al exchange and col­lab­o­ra­tion.

 “Chi­na is an inter­na­tion­al pow­er­house and glob­al inno­va­tor with many excel­lent schol­ars and stu­dents,” says Pres­i­dent Nay­lor. “This vis­it was an oppor­tu­ni­ty to work with and learn from our part­ner insti­tu­tions, build and strength­en our ties with oth­er post-sec­ondary insti­tu­tions, and pro­mote the excel­lent aca­d­e­m­ic and cul­tur­al oppor­tu­ni­ties the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to has to offer. In addi­tion, we were able to recon­nect with our broad alum­ni and friends of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to.”

Dur­ing the vis­it, U of T and part­ner insti­tu­tions signed agree­ments to expand two-way traf­fic between Chi­na and Cana­da through increased stu­dent and fac­ul­ty exchanges and devel­op­ment of joint edu­ca­tion and research pro­grams. The study of con­tem­po­rary Chi­na and the Chi­na-Cana­da rela­tion­ship were iden­ti­fied as key areas for growth and oppor­tu­ni­ty.

The del­e­ga­tion was encour­aged by Mr. Hao Ping, China’s Vice Min­is­ter of Edu­ca­tion, a strong sup­port­er of increased part­ner­ships between U of T and lead­ing Chi­nese insti­tu­tions. The U of T del­e­ga­tion also met with David Mul­roney, Ambas­sador of Cana­da to Chi­na as well as with the Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al of the Chi­na Schol­ar­ship Coun­cil. 

As part of the vis­it, the del­e­ga­tion also vis­it­ed and met with Prin­ci­pals of lead­ing high schools in Chi­na to build on the close rela­tion­ships devel­oped through the Green Path pro­gram at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to Scar­bor­ough. The stu­dents from these high schools have excelled aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly in their stud­ies at the uni­ver­si­ty.

U of T and Chi­na have a rich his­tor­i­cal rela­tion­ship. Stu­dents from Chi­na have been trav­el­ling to Cana­da to study at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to for more than 100 years. Cur­rent­ly, U of T is home to 4,169 visa stu­dents from Chi­na and has more than 8,000 alum­ni liv­ing in Chi­na.

Excit­ing and inno­v­a­tive joint research with Chi­nese part­ner insti­tu­tions is tak­ing place in areas includ­ing neu­ro­science, nan­otech­nol­o­gy, polit­i­cal sci­ence, bio­physics, hema­tol­ogy, crit­i­cal care med­i­cine, can­cer and dia­betes. Aca­d­e­m­ic part­ners already include Peking Uni­ver­si­ty, Tsinghua Uni­ver­si­ty, Shang­hai Jiao Tong Uni­ver­si­ty, Fudan Uni­ver­si­ty, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Hong Kong and the Shang­hai Insti­tute for Bio­log­i­cal Sci­ences. Chi­na is also a lead­ing des­ti­na­tion for stu­dent exchanges and intern­ships for U of T stu­dents.

“These part­ner­ships in engi­neer­ing, med­i­cine, life sci­ences and social sci­ences and envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies, bring togeth­er top schol­ars and sci­en­tists and stu­dents from U of T and Chi­na to work togeth­er on some of the most press­ing glob­al chal­lenges,” says Pres­i­dent Nay­lor.

For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:
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Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to
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