On December 13, Nankai University and the People’s Government of Hainan Province signed a strategic cooperation agreement at the Haikou International Convention and Exhibition Center. Cao Xuetao, President of Nankai University, Shen Xiaoming, Secretary of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee, and Feng Fei, Deputy Secretaryof the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and Acting Governor attended the signing ceremony. Xu Jingjun, Executive Vice President of Nankai University and Wang Lu, Vice Governor of Hainan Province signed the agreement on behalf of the two sides.

According to the cooperation agreement, the two sides will take the launch of Hainan Free Trade Port as an opportunity and will give full play to the patriotic tradition and discipline advantages of Nankai University so as to carry out extensive cooperation on education, talent training and exchange, scientific and technological development, technological transformation, policy consultation, inter-universities and inter-cities institutions cooperation.

Nankai University and Hainan Province have always maintained a sound and lasting partnership. In 2008, the two sides signed the Framework Agreement on Strategic Cooperation Between Nankai University and the People’s Government of Hainan Province. Since then, Nankai University has successively implemented regional industry planning and a number of major specialized studies in many cities, including Haikou, Sansha, Wanning, Sanya and Danzhou. It has also established strategic cooperation with Finance Office, Department of Ocean and Fisheries, Department of education and other relevant departments in Hainan, which has constantly achieved substantial results in various fields. And the win-win cooperation between Nankai University and Hainan Province has been highly praised by all walks of life in Hainan.

In July 2020, President Cao Xuetao led a delegation from Nankai University to visit Hainan and held a working discussion with the Hainan Provincial Government. Shen Xiaoming, governor of Hainan Province, spoke highly of the achievements of the cooperation between Nankai University and Hainan Province, and pointed out that “Hainan is facing unprecedented development opportunities, so we hope to strengthen the cooperation with Nankai University and become a role model of cooperation between provinces and universities”. The two sides reached a consensus on promoting strategic cooperation and decided to renew the strategic cooperation agreement formally.

In order to actively respond to major national strategies and better serve the building of Hainan Free Trade Port, Nankai University established an entity research institute of Nankai University Hainan Research Institute in 2019. After the signing ceremony, Nankai University will integrate relevant disciplines to land in Hainan, coping with realistic problems in Hainan’s socio-economic development. In the near future, Nankai University will carry out Chinese-foreign cooperative education projects, high-end training, technology transformation platforms and establish cooperative mechanisms between governments and think tanks so as to present Nankai University’s sense of responsibility and make its own contribution to the development of Hainan Free Trade Port. In the new century, the cooperation will also provide a new platform, new support and new impetus for Nankai University.

(Reported by Meng Liu, Translated by Dongze Wu, Edited by Davide Francolino and JianjingYun)