In the afternoon of May 3rd 2017,Douglas Brodie, President of the University of Strathclyde and dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Lu Maozu, dean of the Chinese Academy of Strathclyde, came to Shandong Normal University for a friendly visit. Vice President Zhang Wenxin met with them in the reception room of Administration Building in Qianfoshan Campus. 

Zhang Wenxin welcomed the visitors. He said that the meeting marked a new starting point for cooperation and exchange between the two universities. Shandong Normal University would do a good job of planning which would further support and cooperate with the future cooperation and exchange between the two sides. Moreover, they will strive for developing more high-level cooperation projects in teacher exchanges, cooperative research and international academic conferences. 

Douglas Brody expressed his gratitude to the enthusiasm of SDNU. He said that the co-promotion and continuous exchanges in previous stages between the two sides had laid a solid foundation for the intercollegiate friendship agreement and the student co-cultivation agreement. In the future, the two universities would continue to strengthen exchanges, and strive to open up more exchange projects in other areas. 

Zhang Wenxin and Douglas Brody signed the intercollegiate friendship agreement and the student co-cultivation agreement on behalf of the two sides, marking the formal establishment of inter-school friendship and cooperation between Shandong Normal University and University of Strathclyde. The University of Strathclyde had become the 114th overseas friendly university and the eighth friendly colleges and universities of Shandong Normal University in the UK. According to the contents of the agreement, the two sides will carry out the “2+2”model for undergraduate double bachelor’s degree, “3+1/3.5+0.5” model for non-graduate co-cultivation, “2+2+1/4+1/1+1” model for graduate students double master’s degree and other different forms of exchange projects.

   Founded in 1796, the University of Strathclyde is a public research university with a long history in Glasgow, Scotland. There are currently about 21,500 students, including more than 6,500 graduate students. According to the QS 2016/17 British universities rankings, it ranks in the top 38 among the colleges and universities in the UK, of which the Department of Physics currently ranks first in departments of British colleges and universities. In addition, the Business School of the University of Strathclyde ranks in the top ten among the business schools in the UK and ranks first in Scottish universities.