A delegation of senior officials and faculty members of the Ethiopian Federal Meles Zenawi Leadership Academy (MZLA) visited the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD), National School of Development (NSD) at Peking University. The delegation was led by Dean Teodros Hagos Tesfay. The meeting took place at Langrun Garden on the campus on May 29, 2016.
FU Jun, Professor and Academic Dean of ISSCAD shared with the visitors the mission, degree and non-degree programs, and teaching philosophy of ISSCAD – a new institution of learning at Peking University initiated and announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping at UN in New York in September 2015.
“At the moment, we have been preparing intensively for its first crop of 30 MPA and 20 doctorate students with a focus on national development. They are mostly from developing countries and are expected to be enrolled at Peking University in the coming fall semester.” Prof. FU told the visitors. He also said, “The core faculty of the Institute draws mostly from NSD which has a strong reputation both academically and as a policy think-tank in China.” He also believes that "while we take microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics very seriously, public policy study is not a single discipline but rather a domain, the study of which requires a multidisciplinary approach. Through courses, workshops, and fieldwork, students develop a box of conceptual tools that is cross-disciplinary in nature but adapted for actions appropriate for local conditions."
XU Jintao, Professor and Associate Dean of NSD, reviewed the history and educational programs of NSD and expressed his interest to develop joint research projects between NSD and MZLA on matters of economic development, renewable energy, environment protection, and climate change. He noted, “Of late, Ethiopia has been on fast-track economic growth, and there is a lot that China and Ethiopia can learn from each other.”
ZHANG Xiaomin, Assistant Dean of NSD, shared with the visitors various non-degree executive educational programs run at NSD. He said, “As these training programs are often client-driven, the key is to be able to leverage relevant resources from the academic, the government, and the corporate world simultaneously, and both domestically and internationally. The concept of network is important, so that you can either tailor or scale up executive programs.”
At the end of meeting, Dean Teodros Hagos Tesfay expressed his thanks and wish to further strengthen cooperation between the two sides. He was echoed by Prof. FU Jun, who said: “We have planted seeds today. We will harvest fruits in due time.”
(Group photo of the meeting)
