The delegation of Tsinghua University, a paramount leader of the National Rankings of China’s Universities, has visited St Petersburg University to sign a new framework agreement on collaboration and discussed how to implement joint projects in education, research, and culture.

The head of the Chinese delegation and Secretary of Party Committee of Tsinghua University Professor Chen Sui expressed her gratitude to SPbU Rector Nikolay Kropachev for the warm welcome and told that SPbU and Tsinghua University had much in common.

Both General Secretaries of China — Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping — are SPbU graduates, so are two Presidents of Russia — Dmitrii Medvedev and Vladimir Putin.

Secretary of Party Committee of Tsinghua University Chen Sui

Tsinghua University, says Chen Sui, has approved a strategy that primarily focuses on international relations.  The overarching priority is to continue the agreement on collaboration with SPbU to open new horizons in developing joint projects.  What is needed now is a direct agreement signed between SPbU and Ministry of Education of China.

Of particular interests for our Chinese colleagues are programmes in human health and life. For the last five years, the University has successfully expanded a range of educational programmes and today it can offer over 60 of them.

“Recently, SPbU has included St Petersburg Multifunctional Clinic Complex, — said SPbU Rector Nikolay Kropachev. — The University has more than 20 bio-medical research laboratories, with the world’s leading scientists working there”. This year, SPbU, among all other universities, has the highest entrance score in Medicine that is 92 points, says Nikolay Kropachev.

“The University has SPbU Research Park, with the equipment for more than 250 mln dollars, — said Nikolay Kropachev. — Today, our resources are open to anyone, and a half of those who work with the equipment are scientists outside the University”. Chen Sui is particularly interested in collaborating in the fundamental natural sciences that have made Russia’s science what it is today globally.

They also discussed the opportunities for collaboration in culture. The University offers a wide range of both bachelor and master’s programmes to study arts, says the Rector. As the Dean of the Faculty of Arts is Art Director of the Mariinsky Theatre Valerii Gergiev, the students in arts can have internship programmes with the best companies in culture.

Nikolay Kropachev suggested arranging the Days of Tsinghua University at SPbU and the Days of SPbU at Tsinghua University to have joint cultural and student events and create a platform to hold seminars and conferences. The Chinese delegation was quite enthusiastic about this initiative and suggested holding the first festival in St Petersburg University in 2018 and in Beijing in 2019.

The University is particularly interested in collaborating in the traditional fields in Oriental studies and opening new educational programmes. At the University, particularly popular are those programmes that focus on China: Law with a focus on Chinese language and law, Economics with a focus on Chinese economics and language. The University is therefore hiring more and more professors in Chinese studies and interested in expanding its collaboration with the China’s universities (among them are 25 partner-universities in China).

Founded in 1901, Tsinghua University is a member of the C9 League that is an official alliance of nine elite and prestigious universities in mainland China. Throughout the years, it has grabbed the top in the Best Chinese Universities Rankings and is among the top 30 universities in the QS World University Rankings worldwide. Among its alumni are the world’s renowned artists, politicians, and scientists, including A Nobel Prize winner in Physics Yang Zhenning.

The parties also discussed the opportunities to open a joint research centre in politics and public management in Russian and China. “Interestingly, Chinese literature has been mostly translated into Russian by SPbU professors. However, the collections of the major speeches by the heads of the Communist Party who make the country what it is today have never been translated into Russian so far”, — said Nikolay Kropachev. The bilateral research group therefore will focus on political agenda and Russia-China relations, supported by the Institute of Strategic Collaboration between China and Russia at Tsinghua University, says Chen Sui.

Besides, Dmitrii Mezentsev, who is a member of the Federation Council and head of the Department of Political Psychology, told about an interdisciplinary research on the values the Chinese young people share today who live either in China or beyond.

Another focus was an access to the Chinese metric bases in science, which can considerably benefits our scientists, says SPbU Rector. Academic collaboration could substantially supported by exchange research data between the scientists. The company that coordinates the biggest base of research data is at the oldest university on China, says the Director of the Office for International Collaboration of Tsinghua University. Chen Sui promised to discuss it with her colleagues in China to sign an agreement.