Zhejiang Online, Hangzhou, Oct.13, 2009: In United States, Ivy League schools are widely known as some of the most prestigious universities in the world. To be admitted by an Ivy League institution is a dream for students all around the world.

Recently, China has also begun to set up its own “Ivy League”. Yesterday, nine premier universities which were the first members of the “985 Program” joined hands to form the first college league in China and reached the agreement on promoting cooperation and communications among higher education institutions. According to the agreement, the nine universities (“C9”) will take advantage of each other's strengths and share their education resources.

Building up China’s “Ivy League” has been what top Chinese universities been longing for. Because through cooperation and communications, the institutions can not only complement each other with their academic strengths and distinctive styles, but also enhance their capacity for independent innovation.

To strengthen communication and mutual understanding, the nine universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and other six institutions, initiated the “First-class University Development Forum” in 2003 and have gathered each year to discuss the issue of cooperation in higher education. The agreement on collaboration at the seventh forum this year has been a big step made towards the goal and is good news for Chinese higher education development in the future. Based on the platform of “C9” League, some fantastic ideas of the school leaders can be realized, such as the construction of digital fast express, long-distance communications on higher education strategy between the school leaders on a regular basis, and the project of sharing lectures from prominent professors and other on-line educational resources.

Besides the formal establishment of “C9” League, several specific implementation measures have been discussed and substantial progress has been made.

The term “exchange students”, once referred only to students exchanged abroad, will be expanded to students exchanged in universities at home. Having joint education programs for undergraduates and graduates is one of the Chinese “Ivy League’s” chief goals. And all of the “C9” schools mutually recognize students’ credits and academic records achieved in any school within the league.

The “C9” have also determined to expand their cooperation in discipline construction. They plan to work together in textbook writing and faculty training and prepare to create a catalogue of courses and build up a network-based education system to share the lectures. The “C9” schools even expect to mutually assess the doctoral dissertations online.  

Moreover, with the global vision, the “C9” hope to strengthen the cooperation and communications with the true Ivy Leagues in the US, the "G8" in Australia and other well-known higher education institutions around the globe and intensify its influence on the global stage.

Translated by: Han Yafei

Edited by: Jennifer Yan

Source: PKU News (Chinese)