51Âþ»­

The hottest day of the year, last Wednesday (1 July), seemed a good time to celebrate the warm relationship that’s clearly developing between 51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) and the Jinling Institute of Technology (JIT), in Nanjing, China.

Indeed, JIT President Professor Nie Ying, when asked if his JIT delegation were enjoying their trip to 51Âþ»­, smiled and said: “Yes, we feel the hospitality of 51Âþ»­ is like the weather – really hot!”

Professor Nie and his Architectural and Telecommunication Engineering JIT colleagues were here to mark the completion of the first cycle of 3+1 JIT undergraduate Electronic (Communications) Engineering students at 51Âþ»­ and the summer’s first graduands. It was a proud and encouraging moment for both institutions, bearing the first fruits of a seven-year, developing partnership.

The academic performance of the first JIT/DMU students has proved even hotter than July, with one JIT student, Hanru Hu, making 51Âþ»­'s 'Student of the Year’ for Electronic Engineering and a number of students from the partnership achieving First Class degrees.

JIT was founded in 2002 by the amalgamation of Nanjing Polytechnic University and Nanjing Agricultural College. It has 19,000 students and offers nearly 40 undergraduate degree programmes covering Computer Science & Technology, Arts, Horticulture, Animal Science and Technology, Foreign Languages and Humanities and Social Sciences, for example, as well as Architectural and Telecommunication Engineering.

Detailed discussions on possible new directions for the JIT/DMU partnership are also set to include proposals to extend the exchange programme outside technical courses, to include the Arts, Architecture, Business and HR, for example.

Speaking through a travelling interpreter, Professor Nie warmed to the future prospects for developing the partnership, as well as the 51Âþ»­ hospitality: “JIT is developing so fast right now and we would like to learn and co-operate more with 51Âþ»­, building on the rapid advancements in science and technology,” he explained.

“Our students who come to 51Âþ»­ are getting prepared for industry as well as learning the theory they need and we believe we have a solid foundation for further co-operation in the future, adding more learning areas to our partnership and going beyond engineering.”

After meeting and exchanging gifts with the JIT President in the Hugh Aston building, 51Âþ»­ Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Technology, Professor Andy Collop, said: “It’s been very satisfying to celebrate the first cohort of students from our joint programme with JIT and it was both important and delightful to have our partners here in Leicester to celebrate with us.

“We’re very happy to look at longer term collaboration opportunities with them, of which there are many.

“This all fits in very well with 51Âþ»­’s international agenda, with good students coming to our programmes from China – it’s good for the students, putting them in a strong position to secure valuable employment, whether it’s in China or elsewhere and it’s good for our university.

“This is very much a genuine, two-way partnership and that’s very important,” he added.

PARTNERSHIP: JIT President Mr NIE Ying with 51Âþ»­'s Andy Collop