On December 2, 2019, a delegation led by Prof. David Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia (UEA) visited Ocean University of China (OUC). President Yu Zhigang received the guests on Laoshan Campus.

President Yu Zhigang reviewed the cooperation between the two universities and the progress made by OUC as one of the A-category universities in China’s plan to build world-class universities in recent years. Since 2012, the two universities have been working together through the jointly established OUC-UEA Joint Centre for Integrative Ocean Science, achieving fruitful results in talent cultivation, research and faculty exchanges. OUC attaches great importance to the cooperation with UEA and hopes to further strengthen exchanges with UEA more comprehensively, contributing to the development of the two countries’ economies.

Vice-Chancellor David Richardson said that UEA regards OUC as one of its most important and closest partners. The two universities have achieved great progress in their cooperation in environmental science and biology. Cooperation could be expanded to areas of humanities and social sciences, and that further cooperation could be conducted in the joint education of students and training of faculty and staff. The two universities should facilitate regional cooperation through working with industries and research institutes, and participate in education and research activities hosted by relevant international organizations.

Zhuang Yunyun, Associate Professor of the College of Environmental Science and Engineering, reported on the development of the OUC-UEA joint center over the past five years and its plan for the next three years.

President Yu Zhigang and Vice-Chancellor David Richardson signed a cooperation agreement for the joint education of postgraduate students, followed by the appointment ceremony of Prof. Thomas Mock as a guest professor. Prof. Mock, an expert in marine biology from UEA, expressed his thanks to OUC for its warm invitation and trust. He said that he would honor his responsibilities as OUC’s gust professor and contribute to the university’s talent cultivation, research and disciplinary development.