UCL and PKU draw up roadmap to tackle global challenges

UCL and Peking University (PKU) have extended their partnership by agreeing a new roadmap to tackle issues including creating a blueprint for sustainable cities, teaching Mandarin in English schools and reducing the occurrence of spina bifada, one of the world's most common birth defects. A year on from UCL and PKU announcing a "deep, strategic" partnership, the presidents of the two universities - Professors Michael Arthur and Professor Lin Jianhua - yesterday signed the "road map" outlining eight joint research and education initiatives that they will work on over coming years. It came during a visit to PKU by Professor Arthur and a delegation of senior academics which included time at the School for Chinese as a Second Language to launch new joint learning materials and the National School for Development to celebrate the joint Beijing International MBA (BiMBA). A new five-year dual degree in Medical Humanities where students will study for four years for an undergraduate degree at PKU before transferring to the UK for their final masters year has also been agreed. Professor Lin said: "The partnership between UCL and PKU is a model of positive, cooperative, and comprehensive connections that span the globe and play an important role in enhancing mutual trust, solving global issues, and advancing civilization." Professor Arthur said: "At UCL, we believe in bringing together the right mix of minds, wherever they may be in the world, to address the most pressing challenges of our time.