The China Institute Newsletter: November 2013

Dear colleagues

We have had a successful year of active engagement with China in 2013. Over 1,000 new students from China registered to study at Birmingham in 2013, an 8% increase from 2012; this is the highest number of students that the University has ever recruited from China. We have generated £3.4 million of total research value for the major joint research projects linked to the University's Guangzhou platform in China around health, medicine and service industry and £4.14 million in Guangzhou and beyond connected to railways, energy, smart grids, intelligent computing, and advance manufacturing; another £3.8 million is awaiting grant approval. You can see more of the milestones and highlights in our China engagement video

I hope you enjoyed our China Institute networking session to celebrate the Chinese New Year on 31 January. Many thanks for all your support in 2013, and best wishes to all for the year of the horse in 2014.

Best wishes
Professor Edward Peck
Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the China Institute

News highlights

Over 80 guests from the University and external organisations attended a networking session on campus on the Chinese New Year Day. Peter Clack, Director of International Relations, who chaired the session said, ‘It is good to see people with an interest in China coming together to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and I'm sure our links with China will grow from strength to strength in this Year of the Horse!’

The MoU, signed in December 2013 on the Prime Minister's visit to China, commits both parties to contribute £20 million per annum over five years. It will benefit the higher education sector in the UK through its potential to support various collaboration opportunities. Priority subjects include energy and environmental technologies, cities and urbanisation, medical biosciences and manufacturing, which relates to the UK's eight great technologies and China's 12th Five–Year Plan.

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)–China State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) Visiting Researchers Programme, November 2013
SAFEA is a division of the Chinese Government that sponsors international scholar exchanges. Birmingham is one of the SAFEA's official partners in the UK. Professor Roy Johnson from the School of Chemistry joined the three–week RSC–SAFEA-funded programme and visited a number of Chinese institutions including Sun Yat–sen University (SYSU), Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT), and Nankai University. For more details please visit Roy's blog

At a glance

• Thursday 27 February 2014, Inaugural: Metamaterial – Rewriting the Rules for Optics by Professor Shuang Zhang, Time: 17.15, Venue: Lecture theatre 117, Physics West Building, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences
• Wednesday 12 March 2014, Workshop: China Finance Internal Workshop, Time: 10.00, Venue: Room 112, Muirhead Tower
• Monday 12 May 2014, East Asia History and Visual Arts Workshop: by Dr.Tong Lam Time: 14.30, Venue: Hospitality Suite, Muirhead Tower

For more recent and forthcoming activities visit the China Institute website.

Research and funding opportunities

• Two China Government Scholarships are available for Birmingham students in 2014–15. Deadline 31 March. Application procedures have been circulated to exchange tutors.
• UK–China Research and Innovation Memorandum of Understanding
• Universitas 21 (U21) awards for undergraduate students to go to Shanghai Jiaotong U21 Undergraduate Research Conference, 7–11 July 2014, deadline 7 March; Fudan University International Summer Session, 28 June–26 July 2014, deadline 21 March. More details on the U21 awards for UG students to Shanghai Jiaotong U21 UG Research Conference, 7–11 July 2014, deadline 7 March; Fudan University International Summer Session, 28 Jun– 26 Jul 2014, deadline 21 March. More details at https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/external/international/students/U21/index.aspx.