Madrid, December 9, 2022. The President of Crue Spanish Universities and Rector of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Juan Romo, and the President of the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), Liu Limin, have renewed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both associations for another four years. With this agreement, they commit ‘to develop and foster close cooperation with the main objective of supporting and contributing to the advancement and internationalisation of higher education in both countries, linking knowledge and strengthening mutual understanding and relations between China and Spain in the field of higher education’.
Crue’s President recalled that the basic principles of collaboration between the university systems of both countries are established in this MoU and that now, after the pandemic and the forced halt in face-to-face activities and in the mobility of the university community, the time to ‘relaunch our lines of joint cooperation’. In this sense, Romo mentioned the recognition of qualifications and credits obtained in mobility, or an increased collaboration between Spanish and Chinese universities in science, technology, and innovation, among other.
For his part, Professor Liu Limin highlighted the good relations between Spain and China, which ‘favour opportunities for exchange between universities.’ Likewise, he has indicated that Spain has become one of the preferred destinations for Chinese students and has proposed collaborating with Crue to organise an event between Chinese and Spanish universities. Finally, Liu Limin has invited Crue to the China Annual Conference of International Education to be held in 2023.
The MoU was signed at Crue’s Offices in Madrid and was also attended by the President of Crue’s Sectorial Commission for Internationalisation and Cooperation and Rector of the Universidad de Sevilla, Miguel Ángel Castro, who emphasized that the first step to implement the work plan between both institutions is to ‘analyse the actions that are already being carried out by Spanish universities towards China and by Chinese universities towards Spain’. He has also highlighted the importance of creating a specific working group between Crue and CEAIE to monitor the development of the agreed action lines.
With the renewal of this agreement, Crue and CEIAE will work to implement, among other initiatives, mobility programs –for researchers and students– and double degrees, as well as to advise universities on the degrees presented by applying students, both in Spanish or Chinese universities. Finally, the aim is to help and advise in the identification of research areas of common interest and in the possible development of joint research programs.
