It concerns the faculties science & engineering, spatial sciences, behavioural & social sciences, UMCG and the Board of Directors. A representative from the University Council will be joining them. The Universiteitskrant will also join them to report on the work visit. RUG spokesperson Gernant Deekens will be writing a blog on the My University page.
The goal of the visit is to reach agreements on the preparatory year for Chinese students and those programmes that will start in Yantai in the autumn of 2018. The delegation will also visit businesses and local governments to discuss research collaborations and to see if people are willing to offer internships to students. The trip is also meant to give people a general impression of the city of Yantai, the campus, and its surroundings.
Agreements
The deans and programme directors of the faculties will be making agreements with their counterparts at the China Agricultural University (CAU), the RUG’s collaborative partner. It concerns the bachelor programmes chemistry, industrial engineering and management, life sciences & technology, and mathematics. The master programmes are chemical engineering and environmental and infrastructure planning.
The representatives of the University Council will first travel to Ningbo to visit the University of Nottingham’s branch campus. This is the oldest branch campus in China and is organisationally comparable to the University of Groningen Yantai. After that, the group will travel on to Yantai, where they will be joining the rest of the RUG delegation.
Eventually – likely following the summer vacation – the University Council will make a decision about whether the Yantai plans will move forward. After that, the Dutch government will hold a definitive vote on whether to approve of the branch campus.
[UPDATE, 3 May: the final paragraph was added in order to clarify what the role of the University Council will be in the working visit]