The Vice-Chancellors of the University of Sussex, Professor Michael Farthing, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor Joseph Sung, sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions.

The University of Sussex has strengthened its links with Hong Kong by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).

Professor Michael Farthing, Vice-Chancellor, signed the agreement at CUHK’s Hong Kong campus on 6 December.

Professor Farthing met  with CUHK’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Joseph Sung, to discuss future opportunities for developing student and staff exchanges and research partnerships, including the possibility of a reciprocal Junior Research Associate (JRA) scheme.

The Vice-Chancellor also met with Professor Fanny Cheung, CUHK’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor, and Professor Lawrence Wong, Head of Neurology at CUHK.  It is hoped that the agreement will lead to research collaboration in the area of neuroscience.

The two universities already exchange undergraduate students and have a long history of connections, dating back to CUHK’s formation 50 years ago. Lord (John) Fulton, Sussex’s founding Vice-Chancellor, was part of the commission that established CUHK in 1963.

More broadly, the creation of 10 international partnerships is a key part of the University’s strategy for 2013-18 and the University aims to foster collaboration with a range of leading research-intensive institutions world-wide to achieve this objective.  The University hopes that, by pursuing this strategy,  there will be research and teaching benefits as well as greater opportunities for Sussex students and staff to study and work abroad.

Signing a Memorandum of Understanding with CUHK creates opportunities for research collaboration and, potentially, future teaching opportunities - Sussex’s research and the priorities of Hong Kong for the future coincide in many areas, such as the effects of climate change, globalisation, migration, and the impact of technology on economic development.

In East Asia, Sussex also has a range of agreements with leading institutions such as Nanjing University, Peking University and Renmin University in China and National Taiwan University.

From this year, three places have been available for Sussex students at CUHK’s annual summer school and seven places at Renmin University’s International Summer School.

Sussex also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts in 2011.

Sussex now has more than 2,000 alumni in China and Hong Kong, including the successful, Beijing-based property developer Zhang Xin.

The student intake from the region has doubled over the past three years and Sussex now has more than 250 undergraduates and postgraduates from Hong Kong.