New educational opportunities for Dutch institutions in China have been outlined in an official delegation visit to Beijing last month.
Signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese government, Dutch education minister Jet Bussemaker addressed national focus on educational and scientific cooperation and exchange between the two nations, as well as joining the Dutch delegation in conferences, workshops and project visits.
‘We made agreements with our Chinese partners about intensifying and broadening our cooperation,’ Nuffic Director General Freddy Weima said in a release. ‘The Netherlands and China have a significant relationship in the education field that continues to grow.’
‘Chinese president Xi talked during his recent state visit about the Netherlands as a gateway to Europe for China. Dutch education and science can play an important role in this field.’
Resulting in a number of new arrangements and agreements, the visit was deemed a success. For one, the Netherlands will open Living Labs in fields of hospitality and tourism and agrofood in China. Living Labs work to profile Dutch institutions by allowing foreign students to conduct Dutch-run research assignments in selected study areas.
Tsinghua University also agreed to organise an ‘Xperience Holland’ day for its students, whilst both nations agreed to cooperate more closely in areas of secondary vocational education and training, and adult education. Both parties agreed that Chinese teachers should visit VET colleges in the Netherlands to exchange knowledge with their colleagues.
Long enjoying strong trade relations, Dutch-Sino educational ties are a key point of development between the two nations. In 2012, Dutch body Nuffic’s Chinese counterpart, the CEAIE worked with the Chinese Ministry of Education to organise a Dutch-Sino forum on higher education in Rotterdam. Seeking to outline new routes for educational cooperation, the CEAIE and Nuffic signed a joint declaration acknowledging the key importance of greater academic mobility between China and the Netherlands, including creation of more opportunities for student exchange and increased scholarship options for international students.
And, it seems, Dutch-Sino relations are only set to advance. In the first ever Chinese state visit to a Western European country since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Netherlands and China, Chinese president Xi Jinping in March said that the Netherlands was one of the first western countries to recognise the People’s Republic of China. China is the Netherlands’ biggest trading partner outside of the EU, whilst the Netherlands is China’s second biggest partner within the EU.
Nuffic, the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands Association of VET Colleges and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research were also part of the Dutch delegation.
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