Chinese Academy of Social Sciences signs deal with Italian University

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the University of Turin here in the capital of Piemonte in northern Italy.

The two institutions sealed an MoU to activate specific future agreements in the fields of law, economics, literature, security, urbanization, environmental protection and social sciences.

Cooperation will include joint activities, such as organizations of conferences on topics of interest, academic exchanges between researchers and experts from both universities, exchanges of students from both universities, cooperative research, joint publication of relevant academic products and translation of works.

"The deal signed today is a framework intended to allow more specific agreements. University of Turin and CASS had already had contacts, but a memorandum was needed to enable cooperation. In the next two months specific areas will be defined," professor Stefania Stafutti, former director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing and professor of the University of Turin, told Xinhua.

CASS conducts research at a very high level, "so the agreements will be on research," she said.

Cooperation relations and agreements between the University of Turin and Chinese institutions are longstanding but in the last three to four years have been increasing, Stafutti said.

"In some sectors we have longstanding relations, such as biotechnology, veterinary, medicine. Also in the literature field there is a lot of cooperation between University of Turin and Chinese universities. In our literature departments, Chinese is very much studied," she said. Endit