Spain and China sign an agreement to strengthen cooperation in higher education

Eduardo González The Governments of Spain and China have signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation in higher education between both countries. At the beginning of December, the Ministers of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, and of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría, received the Minister of Education of China, Huai Jinpeng, in Madrid, with the aim of intensifying cooperation between both countries. During their meeting with Alegría, held on December 2, both ministers addressed several issues of mutual interest, such as student mobility and collaboration in digital education, according to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training in a press release. In addition, they deepened cooperation in Vocational Training, an area in which both countries signed a collaboration agreement last September with a view to the integration between industry and education, the training of teaching staff and the identification of common strategic sectors, among other issues. The Chinese minister was received two days later by Morant, with whom he signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen cooperation in higher education between both countries. This agreement, according to a press release from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, includes the establishment of a mechanism for periodic consultation at ministerial level to monitor the agreements contemplated in the Educational Cooperation Plan for the years 2023-2026, signed by Spain and China within the framework of the official trip made in March 2023 by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to Beijing. This Plan constitutes a general framework for bilateral cooperation in the field of education, with the aim of promoting and supporting the mobility of university students, the granting of scholarships, exchanges and partnerships between Higher Education institutions, Vocational Training and the digitalization of education, among others. The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Government of Spain, through the State Research Agency (AEI), signed an agreement last September with the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, through the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), to promote scientific cooperation and the participation of scientific and technical personnel in high-impact national research projects. Within the framework of Huai's visit to Madrid, according to the Spain-China Council Foundation, the rectors of the Complutense University of Madrid and the Renmin University, Joaquín Goyache and Zhang Donggang, signed an agreement with the aim of continuing to promote joint research between Spain and China and foster cooperation between both countries. The agreement aims at the creation and development of the China-Spain Centre for Cooperation and Research, which will promote collaboration between the two universities in academic research, student exchanges, professor visits and mutual learning between China and Spain, as well as between China and Europe.

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