The Three Brothers:A new model for international cooperation and co-developmentInternational University President’s Conference Nanjing, China

December 2008

The University of Auckland

• Founded in 1883• New Zealand’s largest

university• Top ranked research institution• Comprehensive University with

full range of professional schools to PhD level

• 38,500 students and 2,000 academic staff

• 4,300 international students from 80+ nationalities

• NZ$4.2 billion contribution to Auckland economy

2006 Performance Based Research Fund evaluation of The University of Auckland

• Largest number of research degree completions in NZ

• Highest level of research income of any NZ university, winning 30% of the nation’s research fund

• Home to 33% of the country’s A rated researchers - the most of any NZ university

The Tsinghua Connection

• Member of Association of Pacific Rim Universities

• June 2004 – signed MOU with The University of Auckland

• Student Exchange Agreement since May 2008

• Prof Gu Binglin, President of Tsinghua University led a senior delegation to The University of Auckland in June 2006

• Several senior delegations from Tsinghua University to The University of Auckland followed throughout 2007

Prof Ted Baker with Professor GU Binglin, President of Tsinghua University, in the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery at The University of Auckland

Endorsement of ‘The Three Brothers’

• Chinese Minister of Education H.E. Zhou Ji officially endorses The University of Auckland’s Trilateral Partnership with Tsinghua University and Qinghai University on 6 September 2006

• H.E. Zhou Ji: “The Three Brothers”

• Scheme for collaborative partnership to reduce the economic disparity between universities in the West and the East of China, and to assist their future development.

The Three Presidents:

Prof Gu Binglin (Tsinghua)

Prof Stuart McCutcheon (Auckland)

Prof Chen Qiang (Qinghai)

H.E. Zhou Ji, Minister of Education

Tsinghua – Auckland - QinghaiObjectives:• Identify areas for collaborative research and initiate joint research:

– Highland ecology– Hydraulic and electrical power engineering (hydro-engineering, geology electrical

engineering)– Advanced materials– Life Sciences– Resource management and protection

• Exchange professors, research staff and postgraduate students• Provide professional development opportunities• Exchange materials, publications and information.

Other collaborations of mutual benefit such as:• Teaching and professional development• Research collaboration• Taking graduate students into Auckland degree programmes, and• Community projects of research interest .

Highland ecology

• “Three Rivers Project” – protection and exploitation, with strong PRC Government support

• Ecological protection and restoration in Sanjiangyuan Natural Reserve, Qinghai Province

• Grasslands around Qinghai Lake which are degenerating into desert

• Climatic change and decrease of water from melting snow.

Hydraulic & electrical power engineering (hydro-engineering, geology electrical engineering)

• Soil stabilization• Alpine plants (to maximise

soil stability and to turn back the desert – looking for the genes that enable these plants to survive)

• Stabilising the high altitude railway to Lhasa and minimising its environmental impact, even using it as a focus for reversing desertification.

Advanced materials

• Silicon based permeable tubes for plants which retain water and assist their propagation under high stress conditions

• Improve the efficiency of solar cells through the use of nano-materials

• Key lab in advanced materials and applied technology.

Life sciences and resource protection

• Genetic research into specifics of high altitude plants

• Study of Tibetan herbal medicine and treatments– altitude sickness– anti-cancer effects

• High altitude medical research

• Protection and utilisation of wild plants in Tibet.

Professional development

• Opportunities for Qinghai University teachers to pursue doctoral study

• Bilingual teachers from The University of Auckland to teach at Qinghai University in English

• Qinghai University teachers to visit The University of Auckland for professional development and teacher training

• Research collaboration • Joint student projects e.g. summer projects with

students from all three universities, video-conferencing, joint experiments

• Joint funding approaches.

Growth through academic collaboration

• Strengthening the Qinghai-Tsinghua-Auckland Trilateral Project

• Plant Science Scholarship established at The University of Auckland to assist a student from China’s West to study plant science at The University of Auckland

• Mr Xilai Li, Director of the Grasslands Institute at Qinghai University begins his PhD research in grassland ecology at Auckland (July 2008)

• One of five PhD projects under the ‘Three Rivers Project’

Of mutual benefit• Opportunity to continue leading

research in areas of global relevance:

– Sustainability– Effects of climate change and – Sciences of the environment

• Robust and innovative science with a practical face, addressing urgent climatic and environmental issues alongside models of economic growth and business sustainability and with an equally important public education role

• The University’s contribution to its mandate of teaching, research and engagement in the global community.

The Three Brothers: A new model for international collaboration

and co-development