UIC signed a cooperation agreement with the Zhuhai Municipal People’s Government at the ceremony in the Huitong Village on 20 June. Also, the ceremony celebrated the groundbreaking of UIC’s new campus.
Immense progress is being made in UIC to develop its fine educational resources, and improvement of its physical capacity will boost the college’s rapid growth. Under the agreement, UIC will actively engage in and benefit from the local economic and social development, and it will also promote the government’s strategy of developing a Blue Zhuhai. This concept revolves around a future-oriented view on the ocean, the environment and innovative science.
“What UIC has achieved over the past nine years is far beyond my expectations,” said Prof Xu Jialu, Chairman of the UIC Council and the Former Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress during his opening address. “It has taken practical action and tells us that, hard as an exploration is, we will do things well if we develop our own features and strengths.”
Prof Xu Jialu congratulates UIC on its rapid development
Vice Mayor of Zhuhai Long Guangyan and UIC President Prof Ng Ching-Fai then signed the Zhuhai Municipal People’s Government and UIC Cooperation Agreement.
Prof Ng Ching-Fai and Long Guangyan sign the Zhuhai Municipal People’s Government and UIC Cooperation Agreement
“UIC is a pride for Zhuhai, for education in Guangdong and even education in the whole nation,” Long Guangyan said. “In addition to nurturing its teaching activities, UIC supports Zhuhai’s economic and social progress with great efforts in an all-round way, including developing the Hengqin New Area, food safety, social management and a university town.”
Long Guangyan says that UIC is a pride for Zhuhai
Prof Ng Ching-Fai said that UIC has gone down an unusual and uneasy road and that he was grateful for all the support UIC has received. He promised that UIC will keep on serving society in many areas with an innovative approach.
Prof Ng Ching-Fai is grateful for all the support UIC has received
Besides these three dignitaries, the foundation stone laying at the groundbreaking ceremony was attended by He Ningka, Mayor of Zhuhai; Zheng Qingshun, Deputy Director of the Department of Education in Guangdong Province; Zhong Yijun, Director of Zhuhai’s Education Bureau; Yang Chuan, Director of the Administrative Committee of Zhuhai National Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone; Prof Dong Qi, President of Beijing Normal University; Prof Albert Chan, President and Vice-Chancellor of Hong Kong Baptist University; Prof Zee Sze Yong, Vice President of UIC.
Inside a white tent erected for the ceremony, the dignitaries shovelled some soil towards the foundation stone
Back in October 2012, the Zhuhai government and UIC signed an agreement to begin mutual strategic cooperation in establishing UIC as a world-class liberal arts college. The collaboration allows UIC to contribute in civil servants training, social management, eco-city development, high-end international forums, and the development of Hengqin.
The Zhuhai government then granted UIC a land of approximately 200,000 square metres to build a new campus. Meanwhile, together with the government, UIC will develop the new campus and its adjacent area into a university town.
Architectural rendering of UIC’s new campus
To fulfil the ideal of liberal arts education, the new campus will include a conservatory for music and visual arts, an auditorium/theatre, a gymnasium and more. It will be created as a green, open teaching and living area which makes communication easy and effective for staff, students and visitors.
The first phase of the new campus is expected to be completed at the beginning of 2016. Construction of student hostels near the new campus, though, has technically been well underway for several weeks already. With the completion of the new campus, the capacity of UIC’s accommodations will increase to 6,000 undergraduates.
Reporter: Deen He
Photographers: Chen Xinran, Cai Yixuan and Deen He
(from MPRO, with special thanks to the ELC)
