Chinese Ambassador to the UK welcomed for the graduations

THE University of Huddersfield was delighted to welcome to campus His Excellency Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK.

The Ambassador was welcomed by students from the University, and later in the day he attended a graduation ceremony where he gave a very positive speech.

His Excellency encouraged both the young people of the UK and China to use all of their drive and determination to work together collaboratively for the benefit of both countries and the rest of the world.

The Ambassador was joined for lunch by the University’s Chancellor, HRH The Duke of York. 

The event coincided with an exhibition of paintings by artist Wang Ying, from the Chinese Consulate in Manchester.  

Mr Wang is a world-renowned artist who specialises in painting British scenes in a Chinese style.  As part of proceedings, the Ambassador presented Mr Wang’s painting of the University and Huddersfield landmark Castle Hill to the Chancellor as a gift.  Mr Wang kindly gave his permission for the painting to be reproduced and used as a commemorative gift.

Guests were also present from Fujian Normal University, based in Fuzhou, with whom the University has approval to begin a joint Electronics and Communications degree programme in China this year.

As part of proceedings, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bob Cryan, signed a commitment with Fujian’s Deputy Party Secretary Pan Yuteng to make an application to expand the collaboration into a Joint Institute offering a number of programmes in the future.

It is hoped that the Joint Institute will provide the opportunity for many UK students to study part of their programme in Fuzhou and for Chinese students to study in Huddersfield.

As part of his visit, the Ambassador was also introduced to the work of two the University’s leading research centres.

Escorted by Huddersfield’s Professor Dame Xiangqian Jiang and Dr Zhen Tong, His Excellency first visited the Centre for Precision Technology, which houses the £40m EPSRC Future Metrology Hub. 

He then toured the £30m Institute for Railway Research where he discussed the future of rail travel and collaboration between UK and Chinese universities, before moving on to see the new £3.5m MIAMI-2 (Microscopes and Ion Accelerators for Materials Investigation) facility, one of only two such facilities in Europe and one of only five in the world.