On the afternoon of November 26, Dr. Patricia FLOR, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to China, and Jan RUDOLPH, Consul General of Germany in Guangzhou, visited Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS). President Yan Xiangbin met the guests in the VIP hall of the administration building of Baiyunshan Campus, accompanied by Vice President Jiao Fangtai. The two sides exchanged views on promoting cultural exchanges and deepening educational cooperation.

Yan Xiangbin welcomed the delegation and introduced in detail the internationalization characteristics and the development of the German discipline of GDUFS. He pointed out that the German major of GDUFS is one of the first batch of national first-class professional programmes in China, which has a long history and remarkable achievements in talent training. It is the largest German undergraduate and postgraduate degree in South China. GDUFS attaches great importance to exchanges with German universities and institutions and has carried out a series of fruitful colaborations. He said that the visit of Dr. Patricia FLOR and her delegation will bring new opportunities and provide new impetus for the development of higher education and talent cultivation in GDUFS. In the future, with the care and support of the German Embassy in China, GDUFS will continue to be a link between Sino-German educational and cultural exchanges, deepen high-level and multi-field cooperation with high-level German universities, achieve breakthroughs in the fields of teacher and student exchange, develop academic research and disciplinary cooperation, and train more high-quality German talents to meet the needs of the times. It will also make a greater contribution to the cultural, economic, and trade exchanges between China and Germany.

Scene of the meeting

Dr. Patricia FLOR expressed her gratitude for the welcome and appreciation for GDUFS’s contribution to cultivating German talents and promoting cultural exchanges between the two countries. She pointed out that talents are an important foundation for promoting Sino-German Cooperation in which education plays a powerful role. The German Embassy in China is willing to serve as a bridge for Sino-German higher education cooperation, strengthen the spread of German and culture, promote dialogue and exchanges among teachers and students of universities in the two countries, and promote cultural, economic and trade exchanges between Germany and China to a new level.

Group photo

Representatives from the Office of International Exchange and Cooperation and the Faculty of European Languages and Cultures attended the meeting.

After the meeting, Dr. Patricia FLOR delivered a speech to the teachers and students of the German Department of the Faculty of European Languages and Cultures in the lecture hall of the library with the theme of “Building Bridges in Changes - Sino-German Cooperation for the Future” and communicated with students. She encouraged the German majors in GDUFS to actively participate in internationalization exchanges and play a bridging role in Sino-China cultural exchanges.