Rhodes University is developing a budding relationship with China. The University has formed partnerships with two Chinese universities over the past year that stand to enhance a new and exciting Chinese Studies programme at Rhodes. These partnerships are designed to encourage a culture of exchange between students and academics in both countries.

Following hot on the heels of Rhodes’ China Week celebrations, which confirmed the success of the Confucius Institute launched at Rhodes in 2008 and the Chinese teaching programme which started in 2009, a delegation from the Communication University of China (CUC) visited Rhodes on 5 to 6 October to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Rhodes.

The CUC delegation included: the President of CUC, Prof Su Zhiwu; Dean of Computer Science Prof Wang Yongbin; Dean of Chinese Teaching for Overseas Students, Prof Pang Zengyu; Director of Digital Broadcasting, Teaching and Research, Prof Cao Sanxing; and Deputy Director of Teaching Affairs, Prof Zhang Jirong.

The visit was an extension of Rhodes Journalism & Media Studies Professor Fackson Banda’s work as a UNESCO chair in communication, which has a special focus on media and democracy. “A broad objective of UNESCO chairs is to twin universities,” said Prof Banda.?

“As a realisation of that objective, I was a guest of the Communication University of China (CUC) in Nanjing and Beijing, at the invitation of my fellow UNESCO chair there, Prof Liqun Liu. In an effort to cement our relationship across a range of shared activities, we decided that CUC should visit Rhodes University.”

The visit cements the relationship between the universities across a range of shared scholarly activities and represents CUC’s efforts at reaching a framework agreement with Rhodes which will see collaboration across disciplines, starting with the School of Journalism & Media Studies.

This brings to fruition CUC’s efforts at internationalising its outreach to African universities and Rhodes University’s own efforts in this direction. On Monday, 6 October 2009, a MoU was signed between the universities.

“The MoU outlines several initiatives,” said Prof Banda. “These include exchanges of faculty and teaching staff as well as students; academic publications and materials exchange; joint academic conferences; and reciprocal visits. A key component of these exchanges, conferences and visits is the need for articulating a joint research agenda to inform our continuing exchanges.”