On June 3, a delegation of 6 people from National University of Singapore (NUS) visited Nankai University (NKU). Xue Jinwen, Party Secretary of NKU nd Chen Zhuquan, President of NUS, representing the two sides, signed a cooperation agreement.

Under the agreement, both sides will cooperate in personnel training, computer, engineering, medicine and other disciplines. It was a solid step forward of deep exchange between NKU and NUS, on the basis of the existing formal cooperation between the two universities.

Xue Jinwen said, with the development and opening up of Binhai New Area, Tianjin will become the leading center of economic take-off in northern China. NKU will seize this opportunity, under the guidance of important speech by Premier Wen Jiabao in his visiting to NKU, accelerate the pace of university construction. In this process, NKU should draw on the experience of NUS and other internationally renowned universities. By signing this agreement, he hoped to further promote the students, teachers and management exchange visits, on the basis of the existing cooperation. In particular, he mentioned the construction of the new eco-park in Tianjin Binhai New Area, which is the largest city comprehensive development project following the SuzhouIndustrial Park, by the joint venture between Singapore and China. Many teachers were involved in the project design and construction. He welcomed President Chen’s come to visit Tianjin again when the eco-park is completed.

Chen Zhuquan thanked NKU for the warm reception, and said NKU was the first foreign university he had visited since taking office as president of NUS, feeling honored to communicate with such a well-known university with great international influence. NKU is well known for its strong education strength and academic atmosphere, he is looking forward to see NKU and NUS carry out comprehensive cooperations to jointly promote researches in many fields, bear fruitful results.

NUS, which is founded in 1905, is not only Singapore's oldest and most prestigious university, but also a well-known institution for higher education in Asia-Pacific region, have close teaching and research collaborations with 14 national-level, 20 university-level and 80 college-level institutes and research centers. In October 2003, NKU and NUS signed the student exchange agreement. In January 2009, School of Information Sciences and Technology of NKU and School of Information of NUS signed a cooperation plan.