A memorandum of understanding has been agreed between IUA and the China Scholarship Council, through the good offices of the Irish Embassy in China, for the exchange of PhD students between Ireland and China. This pilot project is designed to assist with the development of long term strategic research links with prestige Chinese partners, as part of the broader overall positioning of Irish research and 4th level activities at international level.
The Irish universities have identified a list of their own centres of excellence where they would like to host Chinese PhD students, and are working with their Chinese partner institutions to identify suitable candidates. Funds obtained by the IUA through the HEA's Strategic Innovation Fund will assist in covering part of the costs of hosting these young Chinese researchers in Irish universities, for periods of up to one year.
This 3-year pilot involves the development of new communications tools, including an IUA 4th level e-brochure in English, Chinese and Spanish to be launched in March 2008. During 2007, 8000 copies of a hard copy publication about the Irish universities were distributed in China through the Embassy, Enterprise Ireland and individual universities, in conjunction with specific events. Further details regarding these and other publications can be found at http://www.iua.ie/publications/index.html