Shenzhen Strives to Attracts Outside UniversitiesSince word of the establishment of Shenzhen's Virtual University Park hit the streets, 50 Chinese and foreign universities have either become members or are in the process of applying.Thirty-three Chinese universities such as Beijing University, Qinghua University, Harbin Industry University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology have already set up representative offices in the park, while 17 other overseas universities, including Bauman Moscow State Technical University, the Russian Academy of Science Far Eastern Branch, National Technical University of Ukraine and Tunghai University have applied for becoming on-line members. Shenzhen is the first of China's five special economic zones and celebrated its 20th founding anniversary in late August. In the past two decades, Shenzhen has created an economic miracle and experienced an annual growth rate of over 30 percent. However, the city has only two colleges. The park is meant to train more qualified workers in a short time for Shenzhen's future economic development. Liu Yingli, deputy secretary-general of the Shenzhen City People's Government, said the virtual university park is not simply a place for on-line education, but an educational base for multi-level training courses and a center where universities, enterprises, and venture capital groups may come together, creating opportunities for industrialization of scientific achievements. A main building for the virtual university park, with a combined floor space of 15,000 sq m, is under construction in Shenzhen's high-tech industrial zone and should be completed by the end of the year. It will include rooms for lectures, reading and meetings, along with comprehensive service systems, telecommunications network systems, as well as workshops for hatching scientific and technological achievements into products. According to Liu, the Shenzhen City People's Government has also signed an agreement with Harbin Industry University to set up the Shenzhen International Technological Innovations Academy in the Shenzhen High-Tech Industrial Zone. The projected academy will cover an area of 30,000 sq m and will cost 80 million yuan. On completion, the academy will be used by Harbin Industry University as a base for advanced technology research and also as a talent training center. Construction on the infrastructure will start in October and is expected to be finished in one year. |
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