Scotland attaches importance to educational exchanges with China

The importance of educational and cultural exchanges was emphasized here on Monday as the "Scotland in Conversation with China" series program went to this major city in northeast Scotland.

Hosted by University of Aberdeen, the program event attracted around 300 audience to King's College conference center who are interested in the educational and cultural exchanges between Scotland and China.

In a keynote speech on Sino-Scottish Engagement, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond reviewed the long history of educational and cultural exchanges between Scotland and China, specially referring to Yang Changji, educational scientist who studied philosophy and ethnics at University of Aberdeen in 1909 and was father-in-law and teacher of late Chairman Mao Zedong.

Confucius Institues and classrooms are also gaining momentum in Scotland as there are more Chinese students making study in Scotland and more Scottish students learning the Chinese language, according to Salmond.

Ian Diamond, Principal of University of Aberdeen, told Xinhua that his university has signed an agreement with China's Wuhan University to establish a Confucius Institute in a couple of months, hailing the interaction and exchanges between the two sides as "beneficial" to the students, teachers and professors at University of Aberdeen.

Lai Desheng, Dean of School of Economics and Business Administration, Beijing Normal University, delivered a keynote speech under the theme of "Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurship Practice in China".

He explained the force behind China's economic myth, echoing Salmond's remarks on Adam Smith's "self-interest" theory in "The Wealth of Nations" and the theory of Moral Sentiments and stressing on the importance of people-to-people exchanges.

Under the theme of "Defining Scotland's Distinctive Identity in an Era of Globalization The Chinese Perspective", "Scotland in Conversation with China" series program is expected to bring the Chinese guests including professors and scholars to six cities and towns in Scotland to deliver speeches about Chinese perspectives on the EU and implications for policy, cross-cultural Business in Practice, entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship practice in China.