30/10/2008 | Newsletter, Masters and PhD

View from the top: Prof. Aiqian Zhang, Nanjing University

By: Tim Rogers

The University of Nanjing currently enjoys active partnerships with universities from all over the world, with notable examples being the Nanjing University Executive MBA program with Cornell University, intended to educate Chinese middle and high level management to have a global vision in the future. The University also has partnerships with the Johns Hopkins – Nanjing University Centre for Chinese and American Studies and Joensuu University in Finland, in environmental science and forestry.

Professor Zhang sees that such an international approach is important to not only attract students from outside of China to come and study at Nanjing University but to develop networks all over the world. “International education is very important for us as academics. The links that we have developed with universities and research centres in Finland, Germany and the USA help make our research more relevant to different international settings and helps develop a greater understanding of what we are all trying to achieve. International education can benefit all of us involved in modern universities.”

Such grand ambitions for international education are by no means confined to fundamental scientific research. Like many others in her position around the world, Professor Zhang sees the importance of international links to her local Chinese students and the way their studies have a positive effect on their future employment.
“Today I have seen more and more students go straight from their undergraduate or masters degree into very good jobs from Nanjing University. These jobs are located all over China, although there is good local employment in the eastern part of China in companies that are increasingly concerned with their impact on the surrounding environment. Our international links help widen the curriculum and provide our students with new skills – ones that employers like to have.”

Universities like Nanjing are at the forefront of the changes underway in Chinese higher education, as they become more internationally focused and open to masters and PhD students from all over the world. With the Chinese Scholarship Council recently announcing an increase to 20,000 of the number of scholarships available to international students by 2010, China is likely to become even more attractive as a destination for top international graduate students in the future. Professor Zhang, like other top researchers, will be sure to welcome you.