The University of Nottingham has signed a letter of intent with the Zhejiang Wanli Education Group to open a division of the renowned British university in Ningbo, a coastal city in east China's Zhejiang Province.
It will be the first branch set up by a prestigious foreign university on the Chinese mainland, and the third launched by the University of Nottingham outside Britain after branches in Malaysia and Singapore.
Covering an area of more than 400 mu (26.6 hectares), the Ningbo division will be built during its first phase of construction work with 500 million yuan (US$60 million) from the Zhejiang provincial government, the Ningbo City government and the Wanli group based in Ningbo.
The British side will provide all learning materials and the majority of teaching staff will come from Britain.
Graduates of the division will be issued degree certificates by the British university, and they could also obtain the Chinese equivalents.
(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2003)