On March 24th, Professor Stephen J Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, visited Tsinghua University. Tsinghua University President Qiu Yong, Vice President and Provost Yang Bin, had a meeting with the guests at Gongziting.

President Qiu welcomed the visit of Professor Toope and his delegation to Tsinghua University. He also expressed his gratitude to Professor Toope for his active response towards the launch of the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC) initiated by Tsinghua University during the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland. As a renowned university with a long tradition, there are many links between the University of Cambridge and Tsinghua University in terms of academic partnership and talent exchange. It is hoped that the two universities will further deepen their cooperation in addressing the challenges of climate change in the future.

President Qiu introduced to Professor Toope a series of measures recently undertaken by Tsinghua University in its reform of education and teaching, which includes the establishment of the Tsinghua University Art Museum, as the university places great emphasis on art education, which will further improve the innovative thinking of the students. Besides that, the Future Laboratory, Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Research Center have also been established to promote the integration of arts and science, as well as strengthening the engineering and science disciplines of the university.

President Qiu also stated that exchanges between universities will provide students with the opportunity to learn from people with different backgrounds and further improve their global vision. Under the global strategy implemented since 2016, Tsinghua University has established the Global Innovation eXchange (GIX) Institute in the US, the China-Italy Design Innovation Hub in Italy, the Tsinghua Southeast Asia Center in Indonesia, and the Tsinghua University Latin America Center in Chile. Qiu Yong stressed that in the future, universities should work closely together and put more effort into innovation and entrepreneurship education in order to cultivate outstanding talent among the future generation.

Professor Toope praised Tsinghua University for its remarkable achievements and strong influence in the fields of scientific research and teaching, as well as the measures taken to engage with climate issues and develop low carbon energy. He stated that the University of Cambridge has also taken several initiatives to deal with the issues of climate change, including the establishment of a Centre for a Carbon Neutral Future as part of its Carbon Reduction Strategy. As the University of Cambridge works on assessing its global strategy to strengthen its relationship with universities around the world, he looked forward to a stronger partnership and more collaboration between the two universities in the future.

Following the talks, President Qiu and Professor Toope signed a memorandum of understanding between the two universities.

After the meeting, Professor Toope and his delegation visited the Tsinghua University Art Museum.

Writer: Wilson Khor
Editors: John Olbrich, Guo Lili