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View from the top: Prof. Aiqian Zhang, Nanjing University
Professor Aiqian Zhang teaches environmental chemistry and is the Dean of the School of the Environment at Nanjing University - China.
Nanjing is a city of enormous history and importance. Its place in Chinese and world history is well established, having been a capital of China in six separate dynasties and the first capital of the Republic of China. It has long been regarded as a centre of Chinese and regional education and research. A city of over five million people, Nanjing is located in the Yangtze River Delta in the south east of the country, one of China’s most important and productive economic zones and is home to 22 national, public and private universities.
Foremost of all the universities in the city, Nanjing University was founded in 258 in the reign of Yong’an and re-founded as a modern Chinese university in 1915. Consistently regarded as one of the top universities in all of China, Nanjing University has been recognised for its outstanding achievements in research. Most recently, Nanjing University received a high ranking in the Shanghai Jiao Tong’s Academic Ranking of World Universities which has contributed to an increasing international profile and led to the development of more academic links and partnerships with overseas universities.
One of the leading areas for Nanjing University is the field of environmental science and technology. Environmental science in particular, has become one of the most popular of all science areas among Chinese students over the last decade, with growing concerns over the rapid industrialization of the country and the increasing demands for greater production to drive the successful Chinese economy without reducing impacts on the surrounding environment. Professor Aiqian Zhang, one of Nanjing’s top researchers in the School of the Environment, believes that this popularity is set to continue. “Within my working area, the focus is on what many call ‘fundamental’ research, the building blocks of our knowledge from which application and industry can grow. Students know that they have to have a good theoretical knowledge before they can go on to study something that may have a direct effect on their career outside of the university or research centre and so more students are interested.”
“We see how important the contact with international colleagues and students is to what we are trying to achieve here.”
Professor Zhang, educated at Nanjing University to her PhD, is one of a new generation of Chinese academics whose focus is on China, but increasingly setting the relevancy of her research in an international context. The results of her work in environmental chemistry are as important for countries in Europe and Latin America as they are for China. The increasing internationalisation of top universities like Nanjing, through the international application of research, new partnerships with universities all over the world, the recruitment of international students for visiting or full-degree programs and the conversion of some courses to be taught in English, is significant. “Universities like Nanjing are now part of international partnerships where the exchange of teaching and research is encouraged at almost every level,” Professor Zhang says. “We see how important the contact with international colleagues and students is to what we are trying to achieve here.”
International students are now more able to access study opportunities in top Chinese universities through international links and partnerships, internationally-trained Chinese academics returning home to teach and research, and more programs being taught in English. Professor Zhang argues that this latter point is extremely important for the development of Chinese universities. “Although there will be very motivated students who will learn Chinese in order to study here, the majority of students will want programs taught in English. We offer at least one new academic unit taught in English every year in the environmental sciences area so that international students are attracted to the department. However, international students from countries where English is not the first language will also come and study with us, particularly at the PhD level, where programs can be more individual.”
