LEICESTER, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--De Montfort University (DMU) in the UK has received approval from the Chinese government to run a joint engineering course with one of the country's universities.

DMU's Faculty of Technology is to run a joint engineering course with Jinling Institute of Technology (JIT), which is based in the city of Nanjing.

The approval for the collaboration has come from the Chinese Ministry of Education, which is a rare and prestigious honour for UK universities.

In the last three years just 30 collaborative courses between the UK and China have been given approval by the Ministry.

Dahai Gao, from the International Recruitment Office in DMU's External Relations department, travelled to China and was part of the team who helped to negotiate the agreement.

He said: "It is incredibly prestigious to receive Ministry of Education recognition for a university course and means that the Chinese government recognises DMU's excellent reputation.

"China is a huge manufacturing power and there is great demand for people with the right knowledge and expertise. The Government wants to train Chinese engineers who have international experience. DMU will be able to offer that to students from JIT."

The university already has Ministry of Education approval for a joint business course with Liaoning University. Since that agreement more than 400 Chinese students have studied at DMU's business school.

Dahai said: "This recognition means DMU is now a highly recommended university in China for studying engineering and business."

DMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard travelled to China in the summer to strengthen relations with a number of universities and met with the Chinese Minister of Education in Beijing.

He said: "Our aim at DMU is to be a truly global university, building influential global relationships to enrich our research, our teaching and our cultural collaborations.

"The work that I am doing with my colleagues at DMU to form partnerships with some of the finest education establishments overseas is helping us to achieve this.

"To gain recognition from the Chinese Ministry of Education for one of our joint degree courses is certainly prestigious and a wonderful acknowledgement of the quality of the courses we offer students both here and abroad.

"I look forward to forming many more collaborations with Jinling Institute of Technology as well as other universities around the world.

"The benefits to our research and teaching - the sharing of ideas and opinions in the name of progress - is huge. And the more our students understand different cultures then the more they are able to achieve when they enter the world of work. We live in a truly international economy and we want our students to be fully prepared to work in that environment."

At the end of October, DMU will be one of just 20 universities in Britain to be invited to the sixth UK and China Ministers and Presidents' Forum in London. DMU has also been invited to meet with the Chinese president's delegation in London which will include the Chinese Minister of Education, Mr Guiren Yuan.

ENDS

Contacts

DMU Media Office
Chris Johnston
+44 (0) 116 207 8010
news@dmu.ac.uk