To broaden student educational experience and horizons and to continue to promote understanding, goodwill and to strengthen cultural ties, Peking University (PKU) and Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) have agreed to pursue a bilateral student exchange program in an initial effort of three years.

The agreement was signed by GT President G.P. “Bud” Peterson, PKU Vice President Yansong Li, GT Vice-Provost for International Initiatives Yves Berthelot, and PKU Dean of Engineering Shiyi Chen on April 10 at PKU.

The agreement will provide a framework for student exchanges on a one-to-one basis for one semester or one academic year. Exchange students shall pay their tuition and other mandatory student fees to their home institution but not to the host institution. In the initial three years, colleges that participate in student exchange will include the College of Engineering of GT and of PKU.

Other members of the Georgia Tech delegation who joined the ceremony include Associate Vice-Provost for Development Marta Garcia, Professor Cheng Zhu and Professor G. Tong Zhou. Also participated in the signing ceremony were PKU’s Executive Vice-Dean of Engineering Dongxiao Zhang, Manli Zhou of the Office for International Relations, Deputy Director of Dept. of Biomedical Engineering (BME) Huaiqiu Zhu and Associate Professor Changhui Li.

Over the years, the GT Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering has established extensive collaborations with the BME department at Peking University at both student and faculty levels. Student programs included the PKU-GT/Emory Joint Ph.D. Program in biomedical engineering (launched in 2009), the China Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) program (launched in 2010) and summer courses for PKU students at GT campus (starting from 2012). There are also many joint research projects between faculty members from both sides.

“At GT we value international experiences for our students. About 35% students are involved in international programs, which is relatively high compared to other US public universities. We have good cooperation with PKU and this program will further our partnership,” said President Peterson.