Source: Office of International Cooperation and Exchange
Written by: Chen Jingxue
Photo by: Zhong Haolun
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On December 8, 2016, a six-member delegation led by Prof. Rosina Mamokgethi Phakeng, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT), visited Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). During the visit, the two parties held the the 2016 Board Meeting of the Confucius Institute at UCT (CI-UCT) successfully. Besides, they also exchanged opinions on cooperation in the fields including medicine, geographical science, business management, etc.

In the morning, the 2016 Board Meeting of CI-UCT was held. The attendees included Prof. Yan Guangmei, Vice President of SYSU; Prof. Chang Chenguang, Vice Dean of School of International Studies; Ms. Gu Wenli, Deputy Director of Office of International Cooperation & Exchange; Associate Professor Qin Shengyong, Chinese Director of CI-UCT; Prof. Evance Kalula, Local Director of CI-UCT; and Prof. Rosina Mamokgethi Phakeng.

At the meeting, Prof. Kalula presented the working report of CI-UCT for 2016 and the work plan for 2017. The year of 2016 is a successful year for CI-UCT. Thanks to the institute’s commitments, UCT established the Chinese major in their School of Foreign Languages. Moreover, the CI-UCT helped the Groote Schuur High School to apply to Confucius Institute Headquarters for the Confucius Classroom. Besides, CI-UCT was also selected as a Confucius Institute with cultural characteristics for its efforts in holding various cultural activities.

The delegation also visited the First Affiliated Hospital and met with Prof. Xiao Haipeng, President of the Hospital. During their discussion, they reached consensus to develop collaboration activities in the fields such as critical care, emergency medicine, cardiosurgery and medical education.

Afterwards, Prof. Phakeng and other three specialists visited the School of Geography and Planning. They discussed collaboration opportunities with the School Dean, Prof. Xue Desheng, and other academics from the school.

Meanwhile, Prof. Ingrid Woolard, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Ms. Dunwell from the International Academic Programmes Office visited the Sun Yat-sen Business School (SYSBS). They met with Prof. Wang Fan, Dean of SYSBS, and Prof. Liu Jingyan, Associate Dean of SYSBS to discuss cooperation in MBA education, undergraduate and graduate student exchanges.

In 2010, SYSU and UCT jointly established the CI-UCT. Since then, the relationship between the two universities has continued to strengthen. Significantly, the two parties signed a university-level academic agreement in 2015.

Founded in 1829, the University of Cape Town is the oldest university in South Africa and one of the excellent academic research centers in Africa. According to the THE Word University Rankings 2016, UCT is ranked 120th worldwide and the first place in Africa. UCT’s outstanding subjects include law, medical science, earth & marine sciences and bioscience, etc.