PKU launches international undergraduate program to serve B&R construction

BEIJING - Peking University has launched "Future Leaders" International Undergraduate Program to train talent and serve the development associated with the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative.

Some 50 students will be enrolled with the dual-degree program, led by Guanghua School of Management, among whom one third will be from Peking University and the others will be from college partners around the world.

The number of students enrolled with the program will gradually expand to around 100 in the future. And the first group of international students will arrive in Beijing in the autumn of 2020.

Liu Qiao, dean of the school, said they had reached cooperation with 14 colleges from 13 countries and regions, including Moscow State University, National University of Singapore and York University in Canada.

According to Liu, the international students will spend the first two years of their undergraduate education at universities of their home countries and join the Guanghua School for the next two years of study.

Peking University will cooperate with its partners in developing featured courses such as those focusing on China's development and Chinese culture, to allow international students to learn more about China.

China has signed agreements with 24 countries participating in the B&R Initiative on the mutual recognition of higher education degrees as of the end of April, according to the Ministry of Education.