On May 21, a delegation led by Professor Offiong Efanga Offiong, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Nigeria, visited Southwest University (SWU). President Wang Jinjun and Vice President Zhao Yufang met with the guests. The two sides held in-depth discussions on jointly building competitive disciplines and exploring multi-stakeholder industry-university-research innovation models.
During the meeting, President Wang introduced SWU’s history and its achievements. He stated that Southwest University adheres to an open education philosophy, closely aligns with national strategies and regional economic and social development needs, and actively builds multi-level, broad-scope international platforms for scientific and educational cooperation. He expressed the hope to explore new paths for international industry-university-research collaboration with the University of Calabar, achieving mutual complementarity and win-win outcomes between disciplinary strengths and social resources.
Vice-Chancellor Offiong Efanga Offiong praised SWU’s international achievements and presented the history and distinctive features of the University of Calabar. He noted that in the face of global challenges in the new era, and under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, he hopes to focus on practical cooperation in advantageous fields such as agricultural science and life sciences, addressing real industrial needs, and jointly contributing to the building of a China-Africa community with a shared future.
After the meeting, President Wang Jinjun and Vice-Chancellor Offiong Efanga Offiong signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of their respective universities, marking the official establishment of friendly inter-university relations.
It is learned that the University of Calabar, founded in 1975 and located in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, is a federal public university ranked among the top 15 in Nigeria. It has a well-established academic system with 22 colleges and 133 departments. Its traditional strengths include medicine, agriculture, law, social sciences, chemistry, and engineering, and it possesses notable regional characteristics in tropical sciences and resource research.
