On February 23th, Shandong University President Xu Xianming met with a delegation from the University of Toronto, headed by its president David Naylor. The two heads reviewed the history of partnership between the two universities and exchanged opinions on further academic communication and collaboration.

During the meeting, Xu reviewed to the historic friendship between the two universities and spoke highly of splendid contributions made by the famous Canadian scholar James M. Menzies, the Dean of the Archaeology Department at the former Qilu University. Xu praised the supports from the University of Toronto in the past several decades, and introduced the current programs of student exchange and research cooperation on medical and archaeological fields in recent years. Xu also expressed his hope to promote a deeper and wider collaboration between the two universities in the future.

Naylor spoke highly of the achievements obtained on social affairs and in the field of medicine between the two universities in recent years, and hoped the two sides can further develop exchange programs and academic cooperation.

Vice President of University of Toronto, Principal of University of Toronto Scarborough Franco J. Vaccarino and Vice President Judith Wolfson, who are responsible for international communication affairs, accompanied Naylor for the visit. Tong Guangwu, the Director of International Office of SDU and Gong Yaoqin, Vice Dean of the School of Medicine, participated the meeting.

The University of Toronto was founded as King’s College in 1827 and has evolved into a large and complex institution. It now occupies three campuses: Scarborough and Erindale and the St. George campus. It has federated with three smaller universities which are on the St. George campus, and is affiliated with several colleges and institutes. There are ten fully affiliated teaching hospitals in Toronto. Faculties conduct research in many places in Canada and around the world. The University of Toronto is committed to being an internationally significant research university, with undergraduate, graduate and professional programs of excellent quality. According to 2012 Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, it ranked first in Canada and nineteenth worldwide.

Shandong University has kept close ties with University of Toronto in recent years, especially in the fields of medicine, archaeology, and social affairs.

Written by: Cui Liwei

Photo by: Sun Fengshou

Edited by: Ben Hammer, Jing Zizhao

Source:www.en.sdu.edu.cn, www.view.sdu.edu.cn