world, with more than 8,200 international
students making up 21 per cent of the
student body. More than 800 of these future
Martlets are from China. This school is no
stranger to China and the Chinese.
For McGill, China is the third largest source
of international students for the University,
behind only the United States and France.
“China is one of McGill’s most important
regions on the international stage, and
forging links with high-calibre Chinese
institutions is one of our highest priorities,”
said Professor Suzanne Fortier, McGill’s
Principal and Vice-Chancellor, who also
expressed her gratefulness about the
decision. McGill has staff working full time in
southern China, to recruit top students, build
relationships and serve alumni.
“We are extremely grateful to the LKSCF
for their vision and generosity in supporting
these wonderful new exchange programmes
with STU, which will create new avenues
for scholarly and research collaboration
between professors and students at our
two institutions, expose a new generation of
Chinese students toQuebec andCanadian
culture and academic perspectives, and
provide McGill’s students and faculty
members with invaluable opportunities to
experience first-hand the intellectual, cultural
and social milieu of modern China.”
stu – rising like a phoenix
STU may not be as old as its new partner,
but this phoenix has risen rapidly through
the ranks of China’s tertiary institutions.
Its three founding partners, the Ministry
of Education, Guangdong Province, and
the LKSF have committed to the “Project
211” programme: a nationwide effort to
raise research standards by establishing
a network of national key universities
and colleges. In 2012, STU ranked No 14
among all universities in China and No 1 in
Guangdong among Chinese universities
in the Nature and Science Publications
Rankings. It also achieved the No 1
employment rate of graduating students
among all major universities in Guangdong.
Its commitment to the future is backstopped
by solid support from the LKSF.
LKSF has already committed and donated
more than USD760 million to the University
to date. Mr Li Ka-shing’s views on education
shed light on the huge contribution.
“Education is the cornerstone of tradition
and progress, of dignity and wisdom, and
is one of our key tools to reshape destiny...
STU is a platform to instigate reforms in the
higher education sector in China, and we
have attained many milestone achievements
in the past decade,” said Mr Li. “STU
collaborates in a number of fields with
first rate universities all around the world,
including several in Canada, and it is a great
pleasure for me to see this new initiative with
McGill come to fruition.”
2 Birds, 3 programmes
Among the three exchange initiatives, the
Li Ka Shing Initiative for Innovation in Legal
Education is the most extensive one.
It builds upon the highly successful McGill/
Shantou Summer Law Programme, which
was established in 2010 through a previous
gift from the LKSF; it enables McGill and STU
law students to participate in intensive two-
week visits to the complementary university
in alternating years. The new initiative will
expand upon that programme. It will also
support semester abroad opportunities for
McGill and STU students; faculty exchange
awards in both institutions; and fellowships
to allow talented graduate students and
junior faculty from STU to study at McGill.
Restless Martlets can fly to China for a
spell; in Montreal, future Chinese jurists can
experience an intellectual rebirth like the
STU phoenix.
The Li Ka Shing Liberal Arts Exchange
Initiative will support students fromMcGill
and STU’s respective humanities and social
science programmes who wish to study
abroad at the partner institute. Funding
will also be available for a professor from
McGill’s Faculty of Arts to spend two weeks
at STU each year to teach classes, conduct
public lectures and meet researchers
with shared scholarly interests. These
professorships would rotate through
disciplines, affording the opportunity to
generate new creative collaborations and
deepen intellectual ties across many areas
of common interest to both institutions.
Last but not least, the Li Ka Shing Programme
in International Business will enable students
from each institution to travel abroad to take
courses. Business students from STU will
also be offered opportunities to take part
in the acclaimed Desautels International
Summer Programme, which is designed to
provide undergraduate students from around
the world with opportunities to gain critical
North American perspectives on issues of
global significance.
Numerous Chinese students go to pursue
their studies at Canada’s best each year. At
the same time, following the growing power
of China, more and more Canadians move
to China to study or look for internships.
The LKSCF has identified Law, the Arts,
and Business as three areas where
greater understanding can benefit China
and Canada. These three new exchange
initiatives between McGill and STU will
build stronger ties between the two places,
benefitting not only participating students
and faculty but also enriching both countries
for decades to come. Where these two birds
fly, prosperity will follow.
<<
Left: McGill’s crest with
the three martlets and
STU’s with the phoenix.
“education is the cornerstone of
tradition and progress, of dignity
and wisdom, and is one of our key
tools to reshape destiny…”
Mr Li Ka-shing
Above: The library of
Shantou University.
Above: McGill University
campus grounds.
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