On March 23rd, DU Peng, Vice President of Renmin University, met with Meredith McQuaid, Vice President of the University of Minnesota. She was accompanied by Laura Bloomberg from the School of Public Policy of the University of Minnesota, Joan Brzezinski, Director of the China Center, and QU Yanling, Director of the China Office.

During the talks, DU Peng stated that University of Minnesota was one of the most important partners of Renmin University. Both parties have maintained a long-term, solid and effective cooperation including personnel training and hosting short-term student exchanges. At the same time, they also have close academic liasons in public administration, law, literature, history, and other fields of study. Both sides are hopeful to further strengthen and broaden the scope of cooperation to benefit more disciplines.

McQuaid spoke highly of the achievements made by RUC in recent years and said that University of Minnesota will further solidify and deepen the ties between the two parties by further promoting exchanges between teachers.

Both sides also discussed at length different topics including development and creation of student and teacher exchange programs, along with personnel training.

The University of Minnesota was founded in 1851, has 5 campuses and approximately 70,000 students. It offers 370 professional degrees. It is one of the most comprehensive public universities in the United States, and has a reputation as an "Ivy League” university. The school has many famous alumni, including 29 Nobel Prize winners, 1 former U.S. Chief Justice, 2 former U.S. Vice Presidents, and a number of U.S. Fortune 500 corporate giants, demonstrating the University’s excellence in education and contribution to society. It ranks 38th in the 2017 U.S. News World University Rankings and 53rd in the Times article of 2016-2017 Higher Education World University Rankings.