Kent School of Architecture (KSA) recently hosted a visit (16 October) by prominent figures from leading architectural institutions in China.
Organised by the British Council, Beijing, the delegation was led by Professor Zhu Wenyi, Vice President of the Architecture Society of China and Dean of Tsinghua University’s School of Architecture. He was accompanied by 10 colleagues from five other Chinese universities, who were interested to discuss long-term collaborations with KSA. These discussions included opportunities for staff and student exchanges, as well as research collaborations.
This was the second stage in a collaboration that began with an invitation to KSA’s Professor Gordana Fontana-Giusti from the British Council, Beijing, earlier in 2013. The collaboration, which involves partners from the Architectural Society of China, one of the most important professional organisations under the Ministry of Housing and Rural-Urban Development of China, involves six prominent Chinese universities well-known for their architectural departments and four selected UK universities with interests in UK/China higher education collaboration in the areas of architectural, urban and industrial heritage design.
Professor Fontana-Giusti, who is Director of CREAte (Centre for Research in European Architecture) at KSA, said: ‘On behalf of the School, I was delighted to welcome students and colleagues from China. The students have taken part in seminars and lectures at the School of Architecture that enabled them to learn more about the education in the United Kingdom, while our discussions with Professor Zhu Wenyi and his colleagues helped us to identify areas of further exchange and research collaboration.’
Also welcoming the Chinese delegation were Deputy Head of KSA Professor Gerald Adler, KSA’s Director of Research Dr Timothy Brittain-Catlin, its Director of Internationalisation Dr Manolo Guerci, Director of Learning and Teaching Michael Richards, Dr Nikolaos Karydis and representatives from the University’s International Development Office.