HAIKOU /China/, December 23. TASS/. South China's Hainan Province is actively strengthening contacts with Belarusian partners in the field of inter-university cooperation. Sanya Daily reports that last week the island hosted a dialogue on cooperation in the field of education with the participation of representatives of China and Belarus.

The newspaper specifies that the event was held in the Sanya Yazou Bay Innovation Development Zone  (south coast of Hainan). Rector of the Belarusian State University (BSU) Andrei Korol delivered a speech there. The participants discussed the issues of personnel exchange and training of international specialists.

"Sino-Belarusian cooperation includes more than 100 joint projects in the field of education," Korol said. He recalled that China and Belarus have been cooperating in this field for more than 30 years.

According to the rector, BSU has high-quality resources and rich experience to create good conditions for the education of foreign students. He added that during the dialogue in Hainan, Belarusian and Chinese teachers developed new proposals and ideas, which will allow them to find additional ways of cooperation.

In turn, the head of the Main Department of Vocational Education of the Ministry of Education of Belarus, Sergei Pishchov, noted that Sanya is widely known in Belarus and is popular among teachers and students. According to the official, the Belarusian and Chinese higher education systems have very similar points. He pointed out that this allows Belarus to provide a quality educational program for those coming from China.

Cooperation is making good progress

"Gradually, the Institute of Innovative Education (IIE) under the auspices of BSU is becoming an important pillar of educational exchange and cooperation, introduction of scientific and technical achievements," Pishchov stressed.

His colleague Wu Kunmiao, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Board of the Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City operating company, noted that the Hainan Free Trade Port has made significant progress in attracting high-quality resources to the education sector. He said the IIE is the first branch of a foreign university to open in this innovation zone.

"The first group of more than 40 [Chinese] students have completed the preparatory program and will go to BSU for further studies," Wu Kunmiao added.

For his part, Dong Zhi, executive director of the Chongqing College of International Business and Economics, said he was very impressed by the development model of Yazhou Bay Science City, which is fully in line with foreign analogues and "demonstrates a spirit of bold experimentation and innovation".

According to Yang Sen, deputy head of the IIE, places like this Science City are actively building the international brand of "Study in Sanya". He noted that the dynamism of such a process is largely ensured by the advantages and preferences of Hainan.

The establishment of an advanced scientific and educational cluster is one of the key tasks in the development of Hainan Free Trade Port. In order to successfully implement important national and international social and economic projects, China's southernmost province needs qualified personnel in a variety of fields - foreign trade, modern agriculture, advanced industrial sectors and high-quality services. In this regard, the island's government actively promotes cultural and humanitarian exchanges and strengthens cooperation with colleges and universities in other countries, including Russia.