Lingnan University and South China Normal University sign co-operation agreement and inaugurate the Joint Cross-border Education Centre

On 29 December 2023, Prof Joshua Mok Ka-ho, Vice-President of Lingnan University and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, visited the Foshan Campus of South China Normal University (SCNU). 

There Prof Mok and Wang Yan, Deputy Secretary of SCNU, formalised the collaboration between the two universities, establishing a cooperative agreement for the Master of Arts in the China and Regional Studies Programme, emphasising research and learning within the Greater Bay Area. During the event, Prof Mok also granted SCNU membership to the Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership (APHERP) and inaugurated the Joint Centre for Cross-Border Education, symbolising a new era of academic collaboration and knowledge exchange.

In his address, Wang Yan stressed the active collaboration between the universities and the formation of the Cross-border Education Centre. He pointed out that this not only facilitates resource sharing and platform synergy, but is also a proactive response to national policies promoting the development of the Greater Bay Area and the internationalisation of higher education, and instrumental in enhancing the international influence of both institutions, and raising the standard of cross-border education.

Prof Mok explained Lingnan University's vision of fostering increased exchanges between Mainland China and Hong Kong through collaborative teaching and research with SCNU in order to stimulate research in cross-border education, and enable academic activities and teacher training. Building on the roundtable discussion, both institutions aspire to a bright future of fruitful and effective collaboration.

Also present were Lu Xiaozhong, Director of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Institute of Educational Development at SCNU and Distinguished Professor of the Cheung Kong Scholars, and Wu Jianli, Dean of the School of International Business at SCNU, Executive Director of the Aberdeen Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AIDSI), Director of the Cross-Border Education Quality Assurance Research Base of the China Association for International Exchange in Education (CAIEX), and Director of the Cross-Border Education Quality Assurance Research Centre at SCNU. Wu Jianli, Director of the Cross-Border Education Quality Assurance Research Centre at South China Normal University (SCNU), the faculty and students from SCNU, took part in the roundtable discussion.