2005 Press Releases
UCC celebration of Cork - Shanghai Sister-City Relationship, 19 May
As part of the inauguration of the Sister-City relationship
between Cork and Shanghai which will take place between 18 and 21 May,
UCC has organised its own celebration of the twinning to mark the
educational dimension of the new relationship.
On the morning of Thursday 19 May, a major event will be held at
UCC, which will be hosted by the President, Professor Gerard T. Wrixon.
At a special ceremony to take place in the Aula Maxima, Professor
Wrixon will welcome a delegation from Shanghai led by Mr Gong Xue Ping,
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's
Congress. A large delegation of Shanghainese public figures and members
of the Chinese media will accompany Mr Gong. The Ambassador of the
People's Republic of China to Ireland, Dr Sha Hai Lin, will also attend
the event, along with the recently appointed Consul General of Ireland
to Shanghai, Mr Nicholas O'Brien.
Formal speeches in the Aula Maxima will be followed by a joint tree
dedication ceremony in the President's Garden. The magnolia tree
-"yulan" in Chinese - is the symbol of Shanghai and the joint
dedication of the tree will formalise the close links which the
University has built up with educational partners in Shanghai. Mr Gong
and the VIP delegation will also pay a short visit to the Glucksman
Gallery where they will be taken for a short tour, followed by
introductions to Shanghainese students studying in UCC.
"The civic twinning with Shanghai is an extremely positive
development" said UCC President, Professor Wrixon. "Shanghai and Cork
are both dynamic outward-looking second cities and it is very much in
our interests to be twinned with this important centre of research and
development."
Of the 105 Chinese students currently studying in UCC, roughly one
quarter hail from Shanghai. "The twinning marks an important phase in
our student recruitment campaign in China," said UCC's International
Education Officer, Louise Tobin. "There is jubilation among our
Shanghainese cohort that our two cities will now be formally linked.
This is definitely going to put Cork on the map in China and vice
versa."
UCC has entered into formal agreements with the following
universities in Shanghai: East China Normal University; Fudan
University; and Shanghai Jiaotong University. The National University
of Ireland will award an honorary doctorate of laws to the President of
Jiaotong University, Professor Xie Shenghwu at UCC next month.
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