Andrew Wade

Leeds partners with Chinese university for new school

News

The University of Leeds and Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU) are coming together to open a new joint-school based in Chengdu, China.

Due to open in September 2016, the SWJTU-Leeds Joint School will feature a UK-Chinese engineering curriculum. Students will earn dual degrees from both universities, primarily following the Leeds syllabus in English, but supplementing it with SWJTU courses. The school plans to recruit 1,200 students from Chinese high schools over the next four years.

President Xu Fei of Southwest Jiaotong University, and Sir Alan Langlands, vice-chancellor of The University of Leeds, shake hands at the launch.
President Xu Fei of Southwest Jiaotong University, and Sir Alan Langlands, vice-chancellor of The University of Leeds, shake hands at the launch.

“We want to build our international reach and profile by working in powerful combination with SWJTU, which has particular strengths in transport-related engineering,” said Sir Alan Langlands, vice-chancellor of the University of Leeds. “This school enables us to do just that in a key market.”

“It means the brightest students will benefit from the very best of Chinese and British higher education, giving them the distinctive edge to compete on the global stage and providing Leeds with links to some of the very best future engineering talent in China.”

The project is the first overseas school to be set up by the University of Leeds, and over the coming years its UK-based students will have the opportunity to attend the joint-school. Initially, bachelor degrees will be offered in electronic and electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, and civil engineering with transport. However, there are also plans to extend the partnership to include collaboration on postgraduate education and research.

“Our students will have a thorough technical education but, in addition, will follow a curriculum designed to develop their independent problem solving skills, abilities to collaborate effectively in international teams, and present technical material in written and spoken English,” said Professor Peter Jimack, dean of engineering at the University of Leeds. “They will be uniquely prepared for the realities of working in international industry and research.”

“We plan to increase the number of dual degree programmes in the future, as well as introducing dual masters and PhD degrees, and we are very much looking forward to working with our talented colleagues in SWJTU to undertake world-class collaborative research.”