November 18, 2016

Consul General of China visits UOW

Future collaborations discussed with UOW officials

Supporting and developing collaborations between UOW and China was high on the agenda for the recently-appointed Consul General of China, as he met with UOW officials and students for the first time today (Friday 18 November).

His Excellency Gu Xiaojie, who was appointed Consul General (Ambassadorial Rank) of the People’s Republic of China in Sydney in July this year, travelled to Wollongong to meet with members of the UOW leadership team, as well as with a group of student representatives and academic staff of Chinese background.

The student group included a number of high-standing Chinese PhD research scholars. UOW currently has 80 postgraduate research students who are sponsored by the prestigious Chinese Scholarship Council and are working towards completing their PhDs.

The visit provided Chinese officials with a snapshot of UOW’s main collaborations and future engagement in China. This included areas of existing teaching and applied research and industry engagement, as well as exploring other opportunities where UOW has acknowledged international strengths including infrastructure, early childhood education, multi-functional and materials for medical applications.

UOW Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Wellings, CBE, said the visit highlighted new areas of focus for collaboration.

“During today’s meeting we talked about consolidating the research strengths that we have in areas such as engineering and materials science; and, also moving to explore collaboration with Chinese academia and industry in new high demand areas that we are developing such as molecular and life sciences research,” Professor Wellings said.

“We value our strong relationship with Chinese academic institutions and related industry and government partners and this visit was particularly useful to discuss our future collaborations.”