School founded by China, Russia planned

Construction on a new university co-founded by the Beijing Institute of Technology and Lomonosov Moscow State University will begin in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, early next year, in a move that will further cement educational cooperation between China and Russia.

The new campus will begin to recruit students in 2016, according to an agreement signed by the universities' presidents in September, and will recruit 300 to 500 students annually until 2021, with the goal of reaching a student body of 5,000. Graduates will receive diplomas from MSU and the co-founded university issued by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

The school will serve undergraduates and graduate students seeking advanced degrees.

The co-founded university will encourage cooperation in specialized majors, aiming to nurture talent to achieve solid knowledge and innovative skills that can assist in Sino-Russian development, said Hu Haiyan, president of BIT, at the cooperation agreement's signing ceremony on Sept 5.

Under the agreement, the school will mainly seek top Chinese students, but also some of international students.

Prospective Chinese students will be required to participate in the gaokao, the national college entrance exam, and score higher than the minimum for other first-tier universities.

The school will set up a board of trustees to serve as the decision-making body, under the leadership of a president to be recommended by BIT. The board will be recommended by MSU.

Faculty members will be assigned from the two universities and also hired from a global pool.

It is a unique and meaningful program, said Viktor Sadovnichiy, president of MSU, adding that he has a great confidence going forward with the concept.

It will adapt students' training mode at MSU, and will teach in Chinese, English and Russian.

The school will offer majors in many fields, including economics, international business law and finance, Russian language and literature.

BIT is a key university specialized in engineering, information sciences and technology.

It cooperates with many global elite universities to train bilingual students.

MSU, founded in 1755, is one of Russia's most prestigious institutions of higher learning, and it has demanding entry requirements.

The educational cooperation and exchange between China and Russia dates to the Soviet era of the 1950s and has then developed in the new century.

luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn