BEIJING: A recent reply sent by President Xi Jinping has greatly inspired the Chinese and American faculties of Wenzhou-Kean University, a signature project of China-US higher education cooperation.
“I’m impressed with President Xi’s unwavering support for Wenzhou-Kean University and its mission to provide access to the high-quality international educational experience we offer,” said Lamont Repollet, president of Kean University in the US state of New Jersey.
In 2006, Wenzhou University in eastern China’s Zhejiang province and Kean University officially signed an agreement to cooperate in founding Wenzhou-Kean University.
And Xi, who was then secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhejiang Provincial Committee, has shown great care and offered personal encouragement to this cooperation, and attended the agreement signing ceremony.
In April, Repollet wrote to Xi as Wenzhou-Kean University celebrated the 10th anniversary of its establishment, as approved by the Ministry of Education in 2014.
“I wrote to express my gratitude for his vision and ongoing support for Wenzhou-Kean University and to share my vision to build on WKU’s success,” he said.
In his recent reply letter, Xi said education exchanges and cooperation help to encourage the people of the two countries, especially the youth, to get to know each other better, and this is a “project for the future” for the development of China-US ties.
Xi underlined that China-US relations have a great bearing on the well-being of the two peoples and the future of mankind.
“I appreciate the president’s commitment to people-to-people exchanges, especially for young people,” Repollet said.
“They will be the light that shines toward a bright future with understanding, cooperation and mutual growth that benefits people, societies and economies,” he added. Repollet wrapped up his latest visit to China on Thursday. He attended the annual commencement ceremony of Wenzhou-Kean University last week.
“We are making great strides expanding WKU’s enrollment, faculty ranks and scholarly output; with an eye to increasingly be an anchor that serves the cultural, educational, and business needs of the surrounding community and beyond,” he said.
Currently, WKU has about 4,500 students across undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs, and over 4,000 have earned their degrees over the past eight years. Jiang Letian, an undergraduate student of communication studies, said he was very excited to read Xi’s reply letter.
“His reply letter emphasizes the importance of cooperation between Chinese and US colleges and universities, which will not only promote academic exchanges, but also provide wonderful opportunities for young people of the two countries to get to know each other better and enhance their friendship,” Jiang said. “Next semester I will go to Kean University in the US as an exchange student, and I will contribute my youthful strength to building a friendly bridge between China and the US while studying there.” –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
