From Nov. 18th to 20th, 2013, a delegation of Saint Mary’s University from Canada visited BNUZ. Prof. Gauthier, SMU Vice President, head the delegation which also included Prof. Patricia Bradshaw, Dean of Sobey Business School and Ms. Lois Larson, Manager of B. Commerce Program. They participated in the Friendship Tree Planting activity in celebration of the ten-year steadfast cooperation between the two universities. And a series of discussions on Bachelor of Commerce Programme with a major in Finance between BNUZ and SMU were also conducted.

Prof. Tu Qingyun, President of BNUZ met with the delegation. On behalf of SMU, Prof. Gauthier gave Prof. Tu a letter of congratulation from Prof. Dodds, SMU’s president.

In the Friendship Tree Planting activity in celebration of the ten-year cooperation, Prof. Fu Ailan, Vice President of BNUZ, and Dr. Gauthier, Vice President of SMU made a speech respectively. Prof. Fu expressed her thanks to Mr. Bill Bu’s generous donation of the Friendship Tree and their ongoing support. She also reviewed the collaboration between SMU and BNUZ. It is ten years ago, when Dr. Dodds, President of SMU, first came to visit BNUZ and signed the first agreement,that marked the beginning of our fruitful cooperation. The 2+2 credit articulation program at the very beginning unveiled the cooperaion, which has enabled hundreds of students to study at SMU by now. Moreover, the development of collaborations on student exchange, CanTEST, summer program, key faculty training, International Chinese Studies, visiting scholars and so on has been promoted greatly, too. And the newly launched Bachelor of Commerce Programme with a major in Finance between BNUZ and SMU will surely be a milestone of furthering our collaborations.

Dr. Gauthier, Vice President of SMU also extended his thanks to BNUZ for organizing this special tree planting activity to celebrate the 10th anniversary of collaboration. He commented that maple tree is the symbol of Canada, and he hoped that the two universities can nourish our friendship in future cooperation and witnessed the thriving of our friendship tree together. After that, both sides earthed up and watered the tree together.

During the visit, the two universities also made in-depth discussions on the Bachelor of Commerce Programme with a major in Finance between BNUZ and SMU. Prof. Fu Ailan, Vice President of BNUZ; Prof. Tao Wenhao, Dean of School of Foreign Languages; Prof. Lan Yuping, Assistant Dean of the International Business Faculty; Prof. Zhang Xiaofeng, the librarian; Prof. Xu Zhanping, Director of Finance Office; Associate Prof. You Yuhong, Director of Office of Teaching Affairs; Dr. Gan Chunyan, Director of Office of International Affairs; Ms. Tang Manxue BNUZ Recruitment Officer attended the meetings. Several meetings were conducted to discuss on student recruitment, teaching affairs, resource allocation, and administration framework and so on.