With 90 years of existence and 19 faculties from all fields of knowledge, which accommodate more than 42,000 students, the Ocean University of China is the great reference in oceanography and fisheries sciences in the Asian country, a reality that is supported by the fact that 70% of Chinese doctors in the marine field come from this university based in Qingdao and that, according to its data, its position, in terms of scientific production in the marine field, is among the top 30 in the world. Three years ago, a delegation from Campus do Mar visited this Chinese academic institution to publicize the campus of international excellence and since then a relationship has been maintained, which from this week takes on a new dimension with the signing of a memorandum of understanding signed by the rectors Salustiano Mato and Yu Zhigang. Both institutional leaders highlighted the importance that this agreement represents for their universities, which aims to foster cooperation, promoting the exchange of teaching and research staff, administration and services, and students, as well as information and materials that are of mutual interest.
“This is the first agreement we have signed with a Spanish university,” revealed the rector of the Ocean University of China, who expressed his willingness to collaborate with the University of Vigo in areas of study such as water, “which is very developed in Spain,” noted Yu Zhigang, as well as in technology and renewable energies and even in the Spanish language, “which is not yet taught at our institution, but which in the future could be done with teachers from the University of Vigo, while our teachers could teach Chinese here,” he explained. For his part, the rector Salustiano Mato showed his total willingness to collaborate with the Chinese academic institution, for example to facilitate its introduction in South America, seeking joint collaboration. The rector of the University of Vigo thanked the Chinese delegation for their presence on the Vigo campus and shared with its members the most relevant data about the institution and its commitment to specialization “through Vigo Tecnolóxico, the Campus da Auga and the Campus Crea”, as well as the work developed to attract resources other than public funding and even the capacity to generate entrepreneurial initiatives, which has allowed around thirty companies to emerge in the last five years.
The director of Campus do Mar, Emilio Fernández, particularly values the signing of this agreement “because it means that for the first time the door of the Ocean University of China is opened for our students to go to OUC and vice versa. It is something that we have been working on since the first year and I believe that it will be the beginning of a more intense collaboration with Chinese institutions and, in particular, with OUC”. This circumstance, according to Fernández, is closely linked to the aid for mobility achieved by the Ministry of Education, in an action prepared jointly by the International Relations Office of the University of Vigo and Campus do Mar, through which four five-month mobility of doctoral students will be financed next year, two from Vigo to China and another two from China to the University of Vigo, to which are added two more mobility of teachers, one from Vigo to China and vice versa.
With yesterday’s memorandum of understanding, the number of Chinese academic institutions with which the University of Vigo has signed agreements rises to nine, the same number of agreements that the Vigo institution maintains with six other Asian countries.
The OUC, leader of IAMRI
The Ocean University of China is currently responsible for leading the International Alliance of Marine-related Institutions, IAMRI, a network of marine institutions in the world, made up of world-leading organizations in the marine field such as the universities of Tokyo, Bremen, Brest, Southern Korea and Quebec, as well as the National Oceanography Centre of the United Kingdom and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and, for six months now, also Campus do Mar. This week, the IAMRI held its annual meeting at the University of Vigo in which, on the one hand, the strategies for the 15-16 academic year were planned, among which the organization of a summer school in South Korea stands out, as well as the identification of courses that can be offered by all members and, on the other, a scientific forum was held “which serves to put researchers from our groups in contact with others from universities in the network, with the aim of identifying areas of joint work”, explains the director of Campus do Mar.
At the opening of the meeting, the rector of the University of Vigo, Salustiano Mato, referred to the importance of the meeting as “an opportunity for members of the network to discuss the composition of this body and the development of specific programs, as well as to learn and exchange knowledge about science and establish new avenues of collaboration”. For his part, the director of IAMRI and rector of OUC, Yu Zhigang, highlighted the incorporation of Campus do Mar into the network, which, he said, meant “new energy for the development of IAMRI”.
