UCLan’s Faculty of Science and Technology welcomes partner representatives from across the world, sharing good practice and identifying areas of collaborative working.
UCLan’s Faculty of Science and Technology welcomes partner representatives from across the world, sharing good practice and identifying areas of collaborative working.
International partner representatives from across the world converged at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) last week for a week-long conference of educational discovery.
Billed as an event to share best practice and potential collaboration with the University’s Faculty of Science and Technology, the international partners represented over 2,500 UCLan students studying in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, Greece and Austria.
In addition to meetings with course leaders, viewing state-of-the-art facilities and the dissemination of good practice, the conference delegates were also treated to an historical tour of Preston, the culinary delights of traditional fish and chips as well as a visit to the University’s Observatory at Alston.
Attending the event was Professor Liu Jiakang, School of Information and Electronics, Beijing Institute of Technology, one of the leading science, engineering and technology universities in China and the world.
Commenting on the experience Professor Liu said: “I really appreciate the effort that UCLan has put into this programme which has been very informative. Seeing the University’s new Engineering Innovation Centre virtually completed is also very exciting as I know some of our electronic engineering students will be taking advantage of its lab facilities.
“I’ve been to Preston on ten previous occasions, it’s a great city and I particularly like the Guild Wheel which I have completed twice, once by foot and once on a bike.”
"From what I have seen this week I think there is real potential to develop our relationship further."
UCLan’s newest international partner in Malaysia, Systematic Education Group International (SEGi), also attended the event. In June 2018, the first group of over 300 SEGi students enrolled on a variety of UCLan-validated programmes with plans to increase those numbers to over 1000 within the next year.
Dr Chia Chee Ming, Dean of Engineering and the Built Environment, SEGi’s said: “UCLan has a long history of successful international collaboration and we’re delighted to have joined their partnership family. The fourth industrial revolution is now upon us which means that courses in IT and engineering will be in great demand. From what I have seen this week I think there is real potential to develop our relationship further.”
Dr Tony Tang from VTC, the largest training provider in Hong Kong, added: “It’s great to see so many faces from different universities across the world come together at UCLan. Everyone here is full of wisdom and it’s been great to share ideas with UCLan staff and the other delegates. I’m already looking forward to my next visit.”
Commenting on the success of the conference UCLan’s Dr Martin Brown, Faculty of Science and Technology Director of Business Development, said: “This was a first for the Faculty of Science and Technology as the conference was developed to replace one of the two scheduled quality assurance (QA) visits that our course leaders would normally make to each partner.
“Face-to-face contact is so important and by inviting our partners to UCLan we have fulfilled all of our normal QA responsibilities. In addition, we have been able to showcase our world-class facilities, our educational portfolio and explore new opportunities for franchise course development. We have already identified potential funded research collaboration related to Industry 4.0 and CPD with City University and the Hong Kong Fire Services.
“The feedback we’ve received from our partners has been excellent and we already have ideas to run an enhanced conference in the near future.”
Further images can be viewed here on UCLan's Flickr gallery.
Pictured: Mayor of Preston, Councillor Trevor Hart (seated centre) joins UCLan staff and international partner guests at the conference’s gala dinner.