Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas with Professor Chen Jian, President of Jiangnan University in 2019.
A new transnational joint education programme between Massey University and Jiangnan University has been approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education.
The programme will jointly deliver an Honours degree in Food Science and Engineering, with the first cohort of students beginning lectures in September this year.
Jiangnan University is the top ranked institution in Food Science and Engineering in China, and first in the world in Food Science and Technology according to Shanghai Rankings (2019). It is located in Wuxi in the Jiangsu Province, approximately 130 km northwest of Shanghai.
Head of School of Food and Advanced Technology Professor Julian Heyes says the joint education programme will facilitate the recruitment of talented students to Massey, while also extending the global reach of Massey’s teaching and learning expertise.
“Jiangnan is a high-quality research-active university, supported by a significant number of government-funded research institutes located on the Jiangnan campus,” Professor Heyes says. “Their combined research output is immense and we are delighted to be working with them.”
Students undertaking the joint programme will study for three years at Jiangnan University before attending Massey to complete the research-intensive fourth year. Massey staff from the College of Sciences will travel to Jiangnan University to teach, allowing both institutions to work together to produce high-calibre food industry graduates.
Students will be awarded a Bachelor of Food Science and Engineering degree from Jiangnan University, and a Bachelor of Food Technology with Honours degree from Massey.