RUC Delegation Visited Portugal and France
From March 26 to April 1, Vice President Du Peng led a delegation to visit universities in Portugal and France. He had discussions with students of Renmin University of China (RUC) studying in France and representatives of the European Alumni Association of RUC, and visited the Minister for Education of the Chinese Embassy in France, the Consul General in Marseille, and the UNESCO.
1. Opening a new chapter in China-France cooperation
The year 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. In France, Du visited key partners of RUC, including Kedge Business School (Marseille campus), Paul-Valery University in Montpellier and Sorbonne University.
During the discussion, RUC and French universities agreed to continue to strengthen academic cooperation in humanities and social sciences as well as emerging interdisciplinary disciplines. They will also actively explore interdisciplinary cooperation in fields as “digital governance, digital city, digital finance and digital economy”.
On March 29, Du thanked the Kedge Business School for its efforts in cultivating over 1,700 students majoring in finance from Sino-French Institute, and sending nearly 1,000 students for exchange in RUC, making it the largest Sino-French educational cooperation project in China. In the future, the two sides would seek further cooperation in the field of wine management.
Du Peng (the third from the right) with the Consul General of China in Marseille and President of the Kedge Business School
Du introduced to Anne Fraïsse, President of Paul-Valery University, on March 30 that majors jointly built by the two universities, namely human resource management and communication, were approved by Ministry of Education. Besides, the two universities plan to add four doctoral programs, including French Literature, Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies and Management within the Sino-French Institute.
In response to the fact that Montpellier is submitting an application to become the European Capital of Culture, Du invited the Paul-Valery University to join the China-Europe Education Alliance for Humanities and Arts, which was initiated by RUC.
Du Peng with President of Paul-Valery University
On March 31, Du met with Guillaume Fiquet, Vice President of Sorbonne University, and Beatrice Perez, secretary of the Department of Humanities. Du said that he sincerely appreciates the important role Sorbonne University has played in the joint construction of the Sino-French Institute. Du thanked Sorbonne University for its care of Chinese students studying in the Sino-French Institute in Paris. He said RUC will cooperate with the French side to help solve students’ difficulties in language and study.
Du Peng with Vice President of Sorbonne University
The RUC Sino-French Institute, jointly founded by Renmin University of China, Sorbonne University, Paul-Valery University and Kedge Business School in 2012, is the first Chinese-foreign cooperative school in the field of humanities and social sciences in China, and also the only one co-established by China and France that focuses on humanities and social sciences.
At present, the Sino-French Institute has become the largest French education base in China and an important platform for higher education exchange between China and France. Du said that joint efforts will be made to expand and strengthen the program as the Sino-French Institute is entering the new decade.
Du Peng with the students from the Sino-French Institute
2. Building a global education community for development and win-win cooperation
On April 1, Du met with Shen Xuesong, Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of China to UNESCO. Du said that in recent years, RUC has cooperated closely with UNESCO and gained fruitful results. With the support of UNESCO, the School of Information Resource Management will soon hold the “World Memory: Chinese Documentary Heritage Creative Competition”. Besides, the School of Global Governance will join efforts to organize the “Model Climate Change Conference of Parties” (MCCCOP) and other activities.
Du said that in the future, RUC will continue to deepen cooperation with UNESCO and other organizations in training and selecting talents for international organizations, and fully utilize the internship programs for teachers and students from African regions to attract talents, experts and scholars from various international organizations to give lectures in RUC.
During his visit, Du met with Minister Counsellor Zhou Jiagui of the Education Section of the Chinese Embassy in France and Consul General Dong Guangli of Marseille to discuss in depth the sustainable development of the Sino-French Institute, the construction of the Institute of French and French Studies, and the mutual translation and publication of academic works between China and France.
3. Promoting cross-cultural understanding and dialogue between China and Portugal
On March 28, Du visited Zhao Bentang, Chinese Ambassador to Portugal. The two sides reached consensus on giving full play to the academic advantages of RUC, strengthening mutual translation and joint publication of works, and introducing research achievements of Chinese path to modernization, etc.
As the first university press in China and the most influential one at present, the China Renmin University Press will make full use of its overseas platform to continuously strengthen mutual translation and international publishing cooperation of works in humanities and social sciences, and inject new impetus to further enhance cross-cultural understanding and dialogue between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
4. Making greater contributions to global discipline construction
From March 28 to 29, the delegation visited the University of Lisbon, New University of Lisbon and the University of Coimbra in Portugal to discuss cooperation in the fields of law and economics, etc.
Preliminary consensus was reached on the renewal of the Business School cooperation agreement with the New University of Lisbon, the expansion of the dual Bachelor’s program of Portuguese and Business, the summer program and the research seed fund program.
During the talks, Du also introduced in detail and sincerely invited partner universities to attend the “Tongzhou Global Development Forum”, which is to be held in Beijing this year, to discuss the bright prospects of higher education cooperation together.
In the future, RUC will cooperate with Portuguese partner universities to hold brand forums, carry out joint training of students, deepen cooperation in academic research, launch exchange visits among teachers and students, and hold exhibitions, artistic performances and other exchange activities on the basis of the bilateral cooperation platform mechanism.
This can help build the Belt and Road with high quality and deepen China-Portugal comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, which will make important contributions to promoting people-to-people exchanges between China and Portugal.
