UK, China universities set up joint engineering college

Britain's Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and China's Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) on Wednesday unveiled a joint college for engineering, offering bachelor's degrees to science students.

The college is located on the campus of Northwestern Polytechnical University in the ancient city of Xi'an in northwest China. An NPU press release says the first two majors open for admission are material science and polymer science. QMUL is expected to provide teaching faculty and curriculum; courses will mainly be taught in English; and graduates will hold a bachelor's degree from both universities.

The two universities will also establish an Advanced Materials and Structures Lab for joint science research, with a target of offering master's degrees.

The joint project is part of China's efforts to boost international cooperation in higher education in recent years, as demand for high-quality education at home has grown among Chinese students and parents.

In 2012, New York University became the first American university to have a campus in China.

NPU is a first-tier Chinese university and is research-oriented with notable strengths in aerospace and materials science, while QMUL is rated as one of the top five universities in London and has seven Nobel Laureates among its alumni. Endi