The cooperation involves the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Faculty of Informatics. The members of the teaching staff from the University of Debrecen will take part in the training of Chinese students, while our Debrecen institution will also host foreign students.
“The University of Debrecen intends to open new paths in its educational portfolio with these two institutions of higher education. We plan to implement our training courses either partly or even entirely in China in the form of joint programs. As a result, the student headcount at the University of Debrecen could increase by about a thousand international students in the coming years,” said Attila Jenei, Acting Vice-Rector for International Affairs.
The cooperating institutions have designed four joint programs to be launched, covering the fields of geoinformatics, materials science, information technology and artificial intelligence.
“We are particularly pleased that it was the Beijing Institute of Technology that approached us with the suggestion to start a joint program in materials science. This field functions as the basis for modern industrial developments. The developing phase of the programs is currently in progress. The instructors have been prepared, and the actual training activities are expected to begin in September 2027,” said the vice-rector to hirek.unideb.hu.
Ferenc Kun, Commissioned President for Research and Innovation, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, underlined that face-to-face presence is going to be preferred during the training. Therefore, the instructors of the University of Debrecen will travel to China to hold their lectures there, and students from China will come to Debrecen in order to broaden their knowledge.
“While BIT trains highly qualified specialists in the field of materials science for Chinese industry, especially for the battery industry, ECUT is a wide-spectrum institution of engineering, and both of them share the vision of the University of Debrecen, which expects all programs and training to be based on a strong scientific background. An important aspect of the program is that we have managed to involve Chinese industrial companies operating in Debrecen for the purposes of providing students with practical training pssibilities. In addition to these opportunities, the companies will also delegate specialized experts for the training, and we are also considering joint research ventures with them,” said Professor Ferenc Kun.
Vice President of BIT Weitao Gao hopes that, through joint efforts, China will be in a position to provide well-trained specialists with a stable knowledge base for its companies operating in international environments.
“The Chinese Ministry of Education has already approved our joint materials science program for 120 students. Since both BIT and the University of Debrecen have excellent educational resources, we are confident that, through these joint efforts, we can train even more talented individuals for using the new technologies,” said the vice president.
BIT is one of China's leading research universities, operating in the capital city since 1940. Its chief academic pillars are engineering and natural science training, for which reason it has strong ties to Chinese defense and aerospace companies. Thus, it is also an important base for technical and research recruitment.
As regards East China University of Technology, it pays special attention to IT training and artificial intelligence development, just like UD does.
“Both sides in this cooperation attach great importance to the new program. We do believe that our human and educational resources will help strengthen our collaboration efforts, and the new institution will serve as a great basis for the development of talents,” said Du Zhu, Vice President of ECUT.
With its central campus located in the city of Nanchang, ECUT was founded in 1958 as China's first nuclear energy university. Its research laboratories primarily assist in nuclear industrial developments but, in addition to nuclear energy studies, it is also renowned for its engineering and environmental science education. Its student headcount is about 30,000 and it also offers English-language education for international students.
Accompanying the Chinese delegation, founder of the iStudy Education Group agency Sha Rao was also present during the signing ceremony, representing the student recruitment partner of the University of Debrecen operating in China for over 20 years.
“We have noted that the University of Debrecen is considered one of the most popular institutions in our country. There are more than 300 students applying to the University of Debrecen every year from all over China. I usually encourage students to apply here, not only because of UD’s historical traditions and experienced teaching staff, but also because we pay special attention to international students. Furthermore, channels of industrial cooperation also represent a new opportunity,” said the founder of the agency.
The representatives of the Chinese industrial companies operating in Debrecen, including CATL, EVE Power and SEMCORP, had also been invited to join the training program and be present at the signing ceremony.
The delegations from China arrived in Debrecen on Wednesday. As the first item on their agenda, they were given an overview of the educational structure, objectives and research activities of the Faculty of Science and Technology, following which they visited the Chemistry Building on campus, the laboratories of the Nuclear Research Institute located at Bem tér and those of the industrial companies operating in our city.
Press Center – SzZsL