The University of North Carolina (UNC) from the United States established an office in Fudan University in Shanghai Thursday.

Molly Corbett Broad, president of the 16-campus university, said the idea of the office is to build a framework around all the activities of North Carolina universities that focus on China.

Some campuses of the university had ongoing activities in China, with one co-operating with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on HIV and other infectious diseases, she said.

Ms. Broad continued that she hoped the office could also serve as a vehicle to expanding the number of Chinese students to go to North Carolina for study.

In the aftermath of the 9.11 terrorist attacks, tougher visa restrictions made it difficult for the Chinese students to go to the U.S., she said, adding that her university needed to engage in marketing efforts to recoup the Chinese interested in studying in the U.S.

Ms. Broad said the UNC co-operation with Fudan University built on the long-term relationship between the Appalachian State University, one UNC campus, and Fudan University through William R. Holland Fellows Program. The program, started in 1996, gathers business students from the two universities to do joint research on a certain aspect of the Sino-US business ties each year.

On October 11, 2004, UNC signed an agreement on establishing the office on Fudan campus to push forward educational cooperation.

The agreement reaffirms the desire of both UNC and Fudan to pursue joint degree programs; facilitate student and faculty exchanges; pursue joint grants to support activities in research, teaching and training of primary and secondary education students, and so on.

(China Daily May 20, 2005)