The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between 21st Century English Education Media, China Daily(21st Century for short) and University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC for short) was held on May 16, 2023 at New International Conference Centre, UNNC. Professor Philip Seltsikas, Vice-Chancellor of UNNC, and Gloria Peng, Director of 21st Century English Education Research Institute, signed the MOU as representatives of both sides.
Welcome Speech
Dr. Celia Lam, former Interim Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Commenting on the tie up, Dr. Celia Lam said: "This conference is an opportunity for us to explore a new model of integrated development of foreign language education and international communication, which will benefit our staff and students in training, student internships, employment and academic activities, and enhance teacher professional development and talent cultivation. Based on the successful cooperation between 21st Century Newspaper and UNNC in English teacher training, English speech competition and Model United Nations activities, I am confident that our future cooperation will achieve even greater achievements."
Mr. Haigang Zhang, Deputy General Manager of 21st Century.
During his speech, Mr. Haigang Zhang believes the MOU is a milestone in the history between two organizations: "It is a new starting point and a higher level action plan to enhance academic exchanges and cooperation, promote teacher professional development and talent training, and explore a new model of integrated development of foreign language education. In the next three years, we will further strengthen academic exchanges and cooperation, promote students' internship and employment, and make continuous contributions to the development of English education in China, and to the exchanges and cross-cultural exchanges between teachers and students from China and other countries."
Academic Exchange And Cooperation Programme
According to the MOU, the two sides will establish two-way cooperation on the "Academic exchange and cooperation programme", committed to enhancing academic exchanges and cooperation, promoting professional development of teachers and personnel training, and exploring a new model of integrated development of foreign language education and international communication.
On the one hand, UNNC will rely on its own high-quality international education resources and experienced faculty team to become the academic support institution of the International English Education Congress in China. On the other hand, 21st Century will serve as the internship base of UNNC, providing students with high-quality internship opportunities and improving their employability. At the same time, 21st Century will cooperate with UNNC in the development and construction of professional courses and personnel training, and jointly explore teaching methods and develop teaching materials, courseware and other teaching resources. Senior editorial and management experts from 21st Century will come to UNNC as guest experts to give lectures on international current affairs, social hot spots, news gathering and editing, media management, new media development and other topics. The two sides will also cooperate in academic fields of common interest, recommend and invite domestic and foreign experts to each other, and jointly hold academic events.