Tsinghua-K.U.Leuven Week: First Foreign Country "Tsinghua Week"

Tsinghua-K.U.Leuven Week: First Foreign Country "Tsinghua Week"

By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

Tsinghua-K.U.Leuven Week, a major communication event between Tsinghua University and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven), started November 19 (Belgian time) at K.U.Leuven in Belgium. It is the first time Tsinghua has held a Tsinghua Week in a foreign country. Tsinghua President Gu Binglin, Tsinghua Vice President Wang Jinsong, Tsinghua Vice President Xie Weihe and Tsinghua scholars participated in the event.

The first in a foreign country, Tsinghua Week provides the participants with an opportunity to further promote long term cooperative initiatives between Tsinghua and K. U. Leuven. We will make Tsinghua Week in a foreign country an on-going event, said President Gu.

Besides the Tsinghua delegation, China s Ambassador to Belgium Ms. Zhang Qiyue, Rector of K. U. Leuven Professor Marc Vervenne, K. U. Leuven Vice President for International Policy Professor Buekers, senior K. U. Leuven administrators, including Vice President De Boeck, Vice President Maex, Vice President Abraham, and Vice President Waer, some Tsinghua alumni in Belgium, and some Chinese scholars and students from K.U.Leuven also gathered for the opening ceremony.

The Week features a Tsinghua photo exhibition, a sustainable development forum, and group discussions. The group discussion especially provides an opportunity for professors of both universities to communicate and conduct in-depth discussions in such fields as architecture and urban planning, nano-science, biomedical sciences, economics, global governance, law, and philosophy.

Rector Vervenne extended a warm welcome to the Tsinghua delegation and congratulated them on the opening of Tsinghua-K.U.Leuven Week. He noted that it is important for universities to enhance international communication and cooperation to address global problems. He hoped the Week would further promote collaboration between K.U.Leuven and Tsinghua.

Tsinghua President Gu Binglin said the K.U.Leuven-Tsinghua Week held in Tsinghua seven months before made a good start for the collaboration between Tsinghua and K.U.Leuven. He hoped the two universities could further strengthen cooperation in the future. "I deeply believe that through the meetings this week here, our friendship will go on for years and will bring beneficial results to both parties," said President Gu.

Ambassador Zhang Qiyue also spoke at the ceremony. She stressed the importance of cooperation between universities. Tsinghua Vice President Xie Weihe gave an outline of Tsinghua s disciplines development, research, faculty, and international cooperation.

The similar K.U.Leuven Week at Tsinghua ( K.U.Leuven-Tsinghua Week) was held at Tsinghua in April of this year.

K.U.Leuven, a Belgium university founded in 1425 situated at the heart of Western Europe, bears the double honor of being the oldest extant Catholic university in the world and the oldest university in the Low Countries. It grew into one of the largest and most renowned universities in Europe in the past six hundred years. At present, K.U.Leuven caters to more than 31,000 students, around 12% of whom are international students from more than 120 nations. On the academic side, the university is composed of 14 faculties, 50 departments and about 240 sub-departments.

(Photo by Zhu Wenyi and Chen Hong)