Deanne Fisher, OCAD University’s associate vice-president, students, has signed an agreement with China’s Nanjing University of the Arts that will open doors to exciting new opportunities for students and faculty at both institutions.
Fisher is in China as part of a mission to Jiangsu province led by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU). Today, the group met with a delegation led by Premier Kathleen Wynne in Jiangsu’s capital, Nanjing. The premier, along with Michael Chan, federal minister of citizenship, immigration and international trade, are celebrating the signing of multiple agreements with partners in Jiangsu.
OCAD U has participated for several years in the Ontario–Jiangsu Student Exchange Program, which facilitates the movement of undergraduate students between OCAD U and several Jiangsu universities that have art and design programs. This new agreement between OCAD U and Nanjing University of the Arts will expand cooperation between the two universities on research, conferences and other academic initiatives.
“Nanjing University of the Arts has long been a destination of choice for our students going on exchange and we are excited by the prospect of deepening our relationship with this renowned institution to areas of faculty mobility and collaborative projects,” said OCAD U president Dr. Sara Diamond.
Eleven Ontario universities are taking part in the weeklong mission, which is aimed at enhancing academic partnerships in Jiangsu, one of China’s most populous regions. They were invited by the Jiangsu Department of Education after several vice-presidents of research from Ontario universities were hosted there last year. The group also participated in the fourth annual Global R & D Summit in Nanjing.