Sino-British College partnership celebrates tenth year
Tenth anniversary celebrations
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 12:34:00 BST
The University of Huddersfield provides a successful BA course in Events Management and almost 1,000 graduates have completed the programme
THE tenth anniversary of a thriving partnership between the University of Huddersfield and a go-ahead college in Shanghai has been celebrated at an event attended by leading figures from British and Chinese education.
It was in September 2006 that the Sino-British College (SBC) was established as a joint venture between the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST) and nine UK universities in the north of England, including Huddersfield.
Fully approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education, the College offers a wide variety of degrees that are taught and validated by the UK partner institutions. Lecturers from the UK pay regular visits to teach SBC students. The University of Huddersfield provides a successful BA course in Events Management. Many of its students have taken the option of coming to Huddersfield to complete the course and broaden their experience.
The tenth anniversary celebration of the SBC was held on the USST’s main campus and hosted by its Vice-President, Tian Weifeng, who welcomed the large number of guests from China and the UK. They included University of Huddersfield’s Andrew Mandebura (pictured left), who is the Director of International Development.
He said: “I am proud that Huddersfield has been part of this innovative partnership and that I was able to be involved in it from its inception in 2006. This type of study model was ahead of its time in 2006 and remains only one of a small number of government-approved programmes in China.”
A special guest at the celebration was Sir Brian Leveson, President of the Queen’s Bench Division and Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, one of the UK partner institutions.
Speaking to an audience that included over 100 staff, students and alumni, Sir Brian said that its first ten years SBC had achieved great success with support from governments and partners in China and the UK.
2016 SBC graduations
An earlier event at the USST campus was the 2016 graduation ceremony for degrees delivered at SBC by the University of Huddersfield. A twin success for two talented sisters was one of the highlights.
You Jiamin and her twin Jiawei (pictured right) were among the 116 students graduating with BA (Hons) in Events Management. Jiamin received the award for top student, having scored the best marks of her cohort, and she also scooped the prize for best research project.
This was the sixth SBC graduate ceremony for an increasingly popular degree course that is taught by visiting University of Huddersfield lecturers, and this year the results were the best yet, with five students attaining First Class Honours and 30 being awarded Upper Second degrees.
◄ Professor Tim Thornton pictured at the ceremony)
Presiding over the ceremony was Professor Tim Thornton, the University of Huddersfield’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor.
“These higher marks are very much an upward trend and a tribute to the hard work of students and staff alike. So let me extend my congratulations to all of the 2016 cohort of graduates,” said Professor Thornton, who also offered thanks to SBC principal Professor John Wilson and his colleagues.
The University of Huddersfield was also represented at the ceremony by Emeritus Professor Colin Bamford and by Dr Andrew Jenkins, who is Subject Leader and Principal Lecturer in Hospitality and Events Management at the University’s Business School.
There have now been almost 1,000 graduates from the Events Management course since the SBC was established ten years ago.
The college’s teaching block is currently undergoing a major refurbishment, so the 2016 graduation ceremony was held on the campus of the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology.
