2005 Press Releases

16 May 2005

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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