On May 19, the International Education Cooperation Conference on Tea Culture and Industry was held at our Gongchenqiao Campus. A delegation from Sunchon National University (Republic of Korea), including Seo Kang-seok, Director of International Exchange and Education, and Jeong Dong-bo, Dean of the Graduate School, visited the University. Yu Haibiao, Vice President of the University, together with Wan Guowei, Director of the Office of International Affairs, Yan Hong, Dean of the School of Economics and Management, and Huang Qiubo, Associate Dean of the School, attended the meeting.

During the conference, our university and Sunchon National University officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), marking the formal launch of international educational cooperation between the two institutions in the fields of tea culture and the tea industry and ushering the partnership into a new stage of substantive collaboration.

Sunchon National University is a renowned national comprehensive university in the Republic of Korea. In 2026, it will establish the country’s only graduate school specializing in traditional tea processing and the tea industry. The program is dedicated to cultivating high-level interdisciplinary professionals equipped with expertise in science, culture, and industry, featuring a distinctive academic orientation and strong disciplinary strengths. For many years, our university has long been committed to tea culture research and talent cultivation for the tea industry, developing distinctive educational characteristics and a solid academic foundation. By combining their respective strengths and complementary advantages, these two universities will build a high-quality international cooperation platform for tea culture education and academic research.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding, the School of Economics and Management will advance a joint master’s program in tea culture with Sunchon National University. Both universities will jointly develop talent cultivation programs covering tea science, tea culture, tea tourism, and health and wellness industries, ensuring seamless academic progression and enabling students to benefit from high-quality educational resources in both China and the Republic of Korea. Through this collaboration, students will be equipped with international perspectives, cross-cultural communication competencies, and strong professional expertise, preparing them to become high-caliber interdisciplinary talents.

In addition, both universities will establish a comprehensive and multi-dimensional framework for regular cooperation. Collaborative initiatives will include faculty and student exchanges, academic seminars and workshops, sharing of research resources, joint research projects, and the co-organization of international academic conferences and educational events. These efforts will contribute to the establishment of a sustainable and long-term international cooperation mechanism.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding marks an important milestone in our university’s efforts to advance educational internationalization. Moving forward, the university will continue to improve and refine cooperation plans, expand international development opportunities for faculty and students, build a distinctive brand of international educational cooperation in tea culture, and contribute to bringing Chinese tea culture to the world.