On 26th October, Professor Chris Husbands, Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), visited The Sino-British College (SBC), University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST). Professor Husbands was accompanied by James Richardson, Director of International Development of SHU and Li Rui, Director of the SHU China Office.
As a university leader, academic, educationist and public servant, Professor Chris Husbands has served as Vice-Chancellor of SHU since January 2016. He has recently been appointed by the UK Government as the Inaugural Chair of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).
On behalf of the College Executive team, Professor John Wilson, Principal and CEO of SBC, extended a warm welcome to Professor Husbands and his colleagues. Professor Wilson gave a brief introduction on the recent development of SBC and its plan of activities for the future as outlined in the newly launched Vision 2025. The meeting was attended by Professor Linda Liu, Vice-Dean of SBC, Dr Liu Bin, Secretary of the Joint General Party Branch; Deputy Director of Campus Management Committee, USST and members of the senior academic and administrative team.
Professor Husbands expressed that as an important part of the University’s China strategy, SHU is fully committed to the collaboration with and development of SBC with the offering of its undergraduate degree in Business Management as a start. In response, Professor Wilson appreciated the continuing support offered by SHU for the enhancement of academic teaching and student development at SBC.
Following the campus tour, the Vice-Chancellor was then introduced to Honorary Professor Matthew Knowles, Consul (Culture and Education), Area Director East China, Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate-General and member of SBC International Advisory Group. Professor Tian Weifeng, Vice-President of USST and Dean of SBC also joined the meeting to discuss and explore opportunities for further collaboration between SHU and SBC/USST.
On the afternoon, Professor Husbands gave a Guest Lecture at SBC, which was entitled “Universities in the twenty-first century: why they matter and how they can matter more”. The lecture was very well received by both staff and students at SBC.
Professor John Wilson said: “We appreciate the commitment of SHU as a highly valued partner. With full support from the senior management team and the faculty at SHU, it is believed that the collaborative link between our two institutions will be further strengthened with more initiatives to be discussed for our future development.”
