The state-run Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) continues to expand its international linkages, this time with the Jiangsu Agri-Animal Husbandry Vocational College (JSAHVC), a reputable creature science and innovation school based in Jiangsu, China.

In an interview Friday, MMSU President Shirley Agrupis shared her optimism that the Chinese school will help strengthen MMSU’s new veterinary medicine program.

Last Aug. 31, Agrupis attended the China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week in Guiyang City, China, which highlighted the two universities’ partnership through the official signing of a memorandum of agreement between the MMSU president and the JSAHVC represented by its president, Zhu Shanyuan.

For the next five years, MMSU and JSAHVC will be carrying out faculty, scholars, and student exchanges; conducting academic meetings; and implementing research, development, and extension programs.

Agrupis said, “higher education institutions must digitally evolve and internationalize to sustain quality education and relevance.”

She, likewise, thanked the Commission on Higher Education for strengthening Philippine education through global scholarships, transnational education, and the development of smart campus programs.

In the end, Agrupis said this will inspire more Filipinos to participate in the competitive global economy, while the Philippine government promotes digitalization as a key strategy for its transformative agenda.

For his part, Zhu said that partnering with the MMSU is an expression of friendly relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of the Philippines.

The 2023 China–ASEAN Education Cooperation Week (CAECW), with the theme “New Vision for Education Cooperation—Shared Prosperity of the ‘Belt and Road’,” runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2, 2023.

The event is co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, and the Guizhou Provincial Government.

Presidents of 14 tertiary schools and some officials of the CHED comprise the Philippine delegation.

Aside from the MMSU, 13 other Philippine higher education institutions signed partnerships with Chinese schools including the Center of International Education of Guangzhou Xinhua University (GXU) to promote educational and research exchanges.

Running for 16 years now, the CAECW aims to promote educational cooperation and people-to-people exchange between China and ASEAN countries and contributes to the Belt and Road Cooperation. (PNA)