From March 20th to the 22nd of 2024, President HUANG Ailong of Chongqing Medical University (CQMU) led a delegation on an exchange visit to the United Kingdom (UK) at the invitation of the University of Leicester (UoL) and the University of Oxford. This visit signifies President Huang's inaugural trip to the University of Leicester and serves as a reciprocal visit following the University of Leicester President's visit to CQMU in November of 2023.
During the delegation's visit to the University of Leicester, Professor Nishan Canagarajah, President and Vice Chancellor, and Professor Thompson Robinson, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Head of College and Dean of Medicine, both held meetings with President Huang.
Prof. Nishan warmly welcomed the delegation and expressed gratitude for the hospitality extended during his inaugural visit to CQMU in 2023. He praised CQMU as a valued partner and admired the impressive accomplishments gained from working together on education over the past few years. Prof. Nishan emphasized that the delegation's visit further solidifies the promising prospects for cooperative education projects between the two universities, establishing a crucial foundation for enhancing collaboration and driving future development forward.
Prof. Thompson remarked that CQMU holds a pivotal role as a key partner for the University of Leicester in the field of Life Sciences, and Leicester places significant emphasis on this partnership, and UoL has devised a comprehensive action plan to ensure the educational quality of these programmes. He highlighted that the initial cohort of students from CQMU studying at the University of Leicester serves as invaluable ambassadors for the collaborative education initiatives between the two institutions.
Prof. Huang conveyed heartfelt gratitude to Prof. Nishan, Prof. Thompson, and the University of Leicester for their warm reception and meticulous arrangements during the visit. Looking back on the collaboration between the two universities since 2019, Prof. Huang highlighted the joint efforts to overcome challenges and improve understanding of the collaborative projects. He stressed the significance of deepening exchanges and nurturing friendships between the two institutions, particularly after Prof. Nishan's initial visit to CQMU the previous year. This visit has laid a solid foundation for the further development and depening of our cooperation, and aims to explore enhancements and optimization measures in recruitment, education, and employment. The objective is to elevate the standard of collaborative education projects and enhance the quality of talent cultivation, ensuring the long-term sustainability of these programmes.
During the visit, the delegation extensively toured the campus, exploring various facilities including the Leicester Medical School (Maurice Shock Medical Sciences Building and George Davis Centre), the Artificial Intelligence Centre (Ken Edwards Building), and the Institute of Space Astronautics (Space Park Leicester). They also explored the Percy Gee Building, serving as the student activity centre, and the David Wilson Library. These visits provided them with comprehensive insights into the University's groundbreaking research achievements across fields such as medicine, biology, and astrophysics, as well as being able to better understand its student management services.
CQMU and Leicester teamed up to offer a joint educational programme in Clinical Medicine (awarded by CQMU) and Clinical Science (awared by the University of Leicester), Commencing enrollment in 2020, the programme has admitted a total of 456 students across four cohorts. Students enrolled in this joint clinical medicine programme benefit from access to the libraries of both universities, as well as other academic resources, ensuring comprehensive learning opportunities.
On March 22nd, the delegation proceeded to the University of Oxford. They embarked on a comprehensive tour of several esteemed facilities, notably including the HIFU Clinical Centre at the Churchill Hospital Cancer Centre, the Oxford Surgical Intervention Trial Unit, the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, and Balliol College at the University of Oxford.
At the High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) Clinical Centre at Churchill Hospital, Prof. Huang was briefed by Professor Wu Feng, who has played a pivotal role in supporting the growth and development of the Oxford HIFU Centre. Prof. Wu provided an overview of the centre's development history, the utilisation and advancement of HIFU medical equipment, and the dissemination of HIFU technology within the hospital. Subsequently, Professor Michael Douek, Director of the Surgical Intervention Trial Unit (SITU) at the Royal College of Surgeons, Professor of Surgery and Breast Cancer, and Chair of the British Association of Surgical Oncology (BASO), together with Professor David Cranston, former Chair of the International Society of Minimally Invasive Vascular Surgery (ISMIVS), Professor of Surgery in the Department of Nuffield Surgical Sciences, and adjunct professor at CQMU, and Professor Constantin Coussios, Director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford, delved into comprehensive discussions on the interdisciplinary evolution of HIFU technology at Oxford, clinical research endeavors, and the trajectory and accomplishments of biomedical engineering spanning from fundamental research to clinical application.
Prof. David accompanied the delegation on a tour of the University of Oxford campus, which included a visit to the residence and memorial of William Osler, a distinguished medical educator and a pioneer in modern medicine.
During the visit, Professor Nuffield from the University of Oxford's Department of Surgery and renowned urology expert Professor Freddie Hamdy held a meeting with Prof. Huang and the delegation at Balliol College, the oldest college in Oxford. Both parties reached several agreements regarding further collaboration in the field of Life Sciences. Prof. Huang warmly invited Prof. Freddie and Prof. David to visit CQMU again to deepen academic exchanges and cooperation.
Accompanying the visit were Mr. YANG Xianzhou, Director of the General Affairs Department, Dr. YU Huarong, Dean of the Graduate School, Ms. YANG Kunrong, Director of the Student Affairs Department, Ms. YANG Xiao, Director of the Scientific Research Department, and Ms. ZHONG Ke, Director of the Finance Department, of Chongqing Medical University.
