. (Photo : www.tsinghua.edu.cn)
Top Singapore and Chinese universities signed three Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) on Monday, Dec. 7, to mark the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
China's Ambassador to Singapore Chen Xiaodong and Singapore's Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung attended the ceremony to witness the signing of MOUs between National University of Singapore (NUS) and Tsinghua University, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Peking University, as well as Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Zhejiang University.
Singapore's Acting Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung said the strong partnership between universities from China and Singapore is a major outcome of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Singapore last month.
"This latest collaboration builds upon years of partnership between our universities," said Ong. "It's befitting that the latest MOUs will further strengthen and deepen their collaboration."
For his part, China's Ambassador to Singapore Chen Xiaodong said that China-Singapore education cooperation is an essential driving force for people-to-people exchanges and the overall bilateral relationships.
"With the signing of today's MOUs, our higher education cooperation will be further strengthened, and it will also give a strong boost to our bilateral relations," Chen said.
Under the agreement, NUS and Tsinghua University will focus on joint research and development in areas such as data science and data analytics, as well as identify opportunities for the commercialization of technology.
"This MOU will build on existing strong collaborations between NUS and Tsinghua University in student and faculty exchanges, joint research and development," Professor Tan Eng Chye, Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost of NUS, said. "We are confident that this partnership will grow from strength to strength."
The MOU also enables NTU and Peking University (PKU) to establish a joint NTU-PKU Research Institute to conduct research in areas that include multi-modal big data analytics technologies for smart cities and human-centered technologies for good health and lifelong learning.
The joint research institute will also provide support to Singapore's Smart Nation vision that harnesses technology and data to improve living standards, strengthen communities, and create more business opportunities.
SUTD and Zhejiang University, on the other hand, will establish a SUTD-ZJU "Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship Alliance" (IDEA), to focus on design innovation in China and Singapore in areas of manufacturing, urbanization and sustainability.
"With the program IDEA, we hope we can be able to produce what we call 'China savvy' entrepreneurs who can contribute to the exciting development of bilateral relations," said Professor Chong Tow Chong, Provost of SUTD.
Professor Song Yonghua, Executive Vice President of Zhejiang University, said that IDEA will enable the two universities to use their knowledge in design and engineering and pursue scholarly activities and earn income from them.
The Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation will fund the collaboration through a donation of 150 million yuan (33 million Singapore dollars), with each pair of universities receiving 50 million yuan (11 million Singapore dollars), the report said.
