United International College (UIC), a joint venture between Hong Kong Baptist University and Beijing Normal University, has become the 55th international member of Advance HE.
Becky Smith, Advance HE’s Assistant Director, International, gave a presentation to the UIC team during her recent visit to China. Both UIC and Hong Kong Baptist University are members of Advance HE, and want to offer global recognition for their staff through HEA Fellowship.
Becoming an Advance HE member ties into the mission UIC has been implementing since its inception in 2005, internationalising higher education in China. The official language of UIC is English, and the college puts a lot of emphasis on developing international partnerships. UIC has collaborated with academic institutions in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, the UK and the US; arranging exchange programmes, short courses for visiting international students and regular summer programmes abroad for UIC students.
UIC was set up with the support of local government and was the first full-scale higher education institution collaboration between Mainland China and Hong Kong. Staff at UIC come from China, Hong Kong, the UK and the rest of the world. As China’s first liberal arts college, UIC offers students a brand new campus on the edge of Zhuhai city with impressive facilities for arts productions, such as a Foley suite and Steinway piano practice rooms.
Advance HE membership is a step towards our goal of becoming a global institution and we’re excited to connect with other Advance HE member institutions. UIC values embracing intercultural perspectives while integrating with traditional cultural practices in China. To do this we wish to educate our students with a global outlook.”Professor Lilian Kwan, Associate Vice President of UIC
Advance HE offers a range of consultancy work and subscription packages for higher education providers outside of the UK.