With more than 200 established partnerships with universities and organizations worldwide, Sichuan University (SCU) places a high value on international cooperation. The university’s global engagements have been increasing rapidly in recent years. One of the university’s goals is to facilitate an international education experience for all SCU students, whether via setting up students exchange programs, study abroad programs and summer programs with international partner universities or creating inter-cultural exchanges opportunities and experiences on campus.

A world of connections

International exchanges in education and research contributed to SCU’s increased global reputation and standing. The university has established cooperative relationships with almost 240 world-class universities and research in­stitutions, such as Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard, from 34 countries and regions. These partnerships resulted in high-level scientific collaborations, including the Si­no-German Innovative Platform on Clean Energy and 24 other international collab­orative research platforms.

To promote educational exchanges, the university has established all-Eng­lish programmes, recruiting students from around the world. Following Chi­na’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, a scholarship is set up to encourage the applications of international stu­dents from the region. Working with several renowned universities in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the United States, Belgium and South Korea, SCU has established Confucius Institutes overseas, promoting Chinese language and culture. As an effort to take advantage of quality educational resources else­where, the university has also built a joint institute with the University of Pittsburgh.

A growing reputation has brought many international visitors, including the United States Vice-President, Joe Biden, the Chair of Russia’s Federation Coun­cil, Valentina Matviyenko, the Governor of Australia, Quentin Bryce, Governor of Canada, David Johnston, and Nepal’s Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli, as well as renowned scientists like the 2009 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Ada Yonath, and Barry Marshall, 2005 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Learning without borders

The university has a rich heritage and is dedicated to nurturing globally competitive innova­tors. It aims to reveal students’ path to discovery, according to their personal aptitude for learning.

Through an integrated multi-disci­plinary approach, SCU has developed an innovative training set-up that promotes personalized education and develop­ment. Broadening the world views of students is an integral goal for educators at SCU. To this end, exposure to a variety of fellow learners adds to a rich experi­ence. Apart from more than 37,000 full-time undergraduates and 20,000-plus master and PhD candidates, SCU has nearly 3,000 international students.

It has also hosted a University Immer­sion Program (UIP), a successful two-week summer event that brings profes­sors from across the world to lecture and teach. In the past five years, the UIP has won much acclaim by bringing in 610 professors from renowned universities, such as Harvard, Stanford and Oxford, and offering courses in English.