STUDENTS FROM TRINITY will now be able to take part in an exchange with people attending China’s number one university.

Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has signed a student exchange agreement with Peking University (PKU), which was witnessed by Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn, who is on an official state visit to China “to strengthen Irish-Chinese education and trade ties”.

The agreement provides for two-way exchange of two full-time students per year across disciplines.

Minister Quinn said:

Education has long been a central plank of the Sino-Irish relationship and I very much hope we can develop that further in terms of mobility of students but also through mutually beneficial research partnerships.

Research collaborations and strong academic relationships already exist between Trinity College Dublin and Peking University across a number of fields including nanoscience, engineering and philosophy. TCD academics this week held meetings with their counterparts in PKU in these and other disciplines to discuss the potential for greater engagement.

Trinity College Dublin also announced two Government of Ireland International Scholarships for Chinese postgraduate students. Preference will be given for 2013/2014 entry to qualified applicants from TCD partners PKU and Tsinghua.

The scholarships are being offered in any of the university’s postgraduate disciplines in Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Health Sciences. The scheme is operated and co-funded by the Irish Government and the higher education institutions and includes a full tuition fee waiver and a stipend of €10,000 to cover living expenses for one year.

The TCD delegation visit to China also involves high-level meetings with top tier universities in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It includes a seminar in Hong Kong University by TCD researchers on HIV and Hepatitis C, as well as meetings with TCD’s 200 alumni in China. Trinity has relationships with China extending back to 1907.

In Pics: So this is what Trinity College might look like later this week>

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