“China and Europe on the New Silk Road: Connecting Universities”

From May 13-15, 2020, the University of Utrecht, the University of Göttingen and the Volkswagen Foundation will be hosting a Herrenhausen Conference on “China and Europe on the New Silk Road: Connecting Universities” in Hanover, Germany. The conference will mark the conclusions of a multi-year research project on the implications of the New Silk Road (or China´s One Belt One Road initiative) for higher education and research in different parts of the world.

Recent geopolitical events such as Brexit, and the US turning its back on international trade and cooperation, create waves of uncertainty in higher education regarding international cooperation, the free movement of students, academics, scientific knowledge, and ideas. Meanwhile China stands to gain as its universities advance in global visibility. The growing unpredictabilities in the West may make China only more successful in its aim to attract talent (back) and to enhance its impact on the global higher education landscape. Its New Silk Road (or One Belt One Road) project could potentially span and integrate major parts of the world across the Euro-Asian continents. But likely on new and different conditions, also for higher education.

The conference will discuss the changing academic relations between China and other countries in Asia and Europe. Key questions focus on flows and patterns of academic mobility along the New Silk Road. It also investigates initiatives undertaken by universities as well as the conditions under which these are taking place. It aims at discussing the impact of these developments on EU-China collaborations, on the global higher education landscape, the key role of the US therein, and on how academic systems between China and Europe will position themselves.

Researchers and professionals from business and administration as well as NGOs with a link to the New Silk Road and higher education from all fields are welcome to attend the symposium.

For more information or registration, view our website “www.academicsilkroad.org”.