Peking University, Oct. 11, 2012: A delegation led by Professor Shih Choon Fong, President of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), visited Peking University (PKU) on September 21, 2012.
Zhu Shanlu, Chairman of PKU Council, introduced the latest happenings and recent development of PKU and then expressed that PKU is working hard to become a globalized world-class university with Chinese characteristics, which could be achieved by all efforts from students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends.
Sharing his own experience of distinguished scholars coming back from prestigious universities and serving PKU, Zhu gave examples of professors Chen Shiyi and Raoyi. According to him, the world academic center is moving from the west to the east and “China would be one of the centers in the world’s higher education”.
Zhu indicated that PKU would make developments in teaching, research and related areas to attract more academic elites with international vision.
Shih expressed his support for PKU and he also emphasized the importance of soft power, “What we should not ignore is the decisive role of the soft power of a university, which would manifest through bringing about intellectual prosperity.”
In particular, Shih suggested PKU strive to attract more overseas students, who would become PKU’s ambassadors to their homelands, by quoting the top universities with high portion of international students, such as Harvard, MIT and Yale.
Background Info:
King Adbullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), founded in 2009, is a public research university located in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. KAUST was built and operated by Saudi Aramco for the first three years.
KAUST focuses exclusively on graduate education and research, using English as the official language of instruction. It offers programs in life sciences, engineering and computer sciences.
Written by: Liu Yineng
Edited by: Xu Xinyi & Zhang Jiang
Source: http://pkunews.pku.edu.cn/xwzh/2012-09/28/content_253451.htm
http://www.oir.pku.edu.cn:8082/html/News___Event/News___Event/2012/0925/492.html
KAUST Wikipedia
