City welcomes hundreds of students from China

Jun 5 2008 by Laura Sharpe, Liverpool Daily Post

HUNDREDS of Chinese students will arrive in Liverpool for the first time later this year.

An estimated 800 students from a village west of Shanghai will converge on the city as they complete the final part of their degrees at the University of Liverpool.

The university was the first in the UK to open a new university in China in 2006, and the Chinese students, now in their second year, will visit the UK for the first time in September.

Similarly, a number of Liverpool students have just returned from a trip to China where they completed part of their studies at the Chinese university.

The Chinese government gave the go-ahead for the institution in 2006 after a change in policy dubbed “open-door” and the globalisation of education.

The University of Liverpool working with Xi’an’s Jiaotong University opened a new autonomous institution, the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.

The university offers degrees only in science, engineering and management, as a direct response to the urgent demand for highly trained individuals throughout China.

In three to five years, the university hopes to be fully developed offering a wider range of degree subjects.

Located in Suzhou, 90km west of Shanghai, the university hopes to train highly skilled international graduates who will each be awarded a globally recognised degree from the University of Liverpool.

Michael Fang, professor of engineering and pro-vice chancellor at the University of Liverpool said: “Creating the university in China was part of a wider strategy to improve the education of our students and create partnerships within China.

“Jiaotong University has helped enhance Liverpool’s reputation in the fastest developing economy in the world.

“Liverpool is well known and respected in China. Liverpool as a city has always had strong links with China and specifically Shanghai.

“Links with some of the 2,000 new technology based companies near the university will benefit our students and Liverpool as a whole.”

Schoolboy’s illustrations help launch school’s Chinese teaching book

Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

A NEW book aimed at bringing Chinese to primary school children has been launched in Wirral.

The book has been illustrated by Jacob Gourley, an 11-year-old pupil at Calday Grange Grammar in West Kirby.

Calday Grange is one of a handful of UK schools which has been appointed as a Confucius Classroom School, a programme set up by the Chinese.

Jacob said he had won a school competition to draw a panda and was given the assignment almost 18 months ago.

He said: “I really like art and Chinese, and doing both of them together was really good.”

Lisa Wang, head of Chinese at the school, said: “Jacob’s drawings were very impressive, colourful and natural, and we focussed on using them.

“Now we are working on a second book and hopefully it will become a series.”

Tim Sinnott, assistant headteacher at Calday Grange, said local company Creativo had published the book after seeing Jacob’s illustrations.

Now they wanted to write similar books for other languages.

The book is available online at www.maomaopanda.co.uk, and part of the revenue will be donated to the Red Cross China Earthquake appeal.

* SEE tomorrow’s Daily Post to discover how the city’s new museum will display a unique exhibition on Liverpool’s historic links with China.

laurasharpe@dailypost.co.uk