The College of Bioresources and Agriculture established strong relations with prestigious universities in the United States during the past three to five years. This year, it set the goal of expanding relations with European institutions and expects to establish stable relations with several of them in two to three years.

In early April, Deputy Dean Ya-Nan Wang and Prof. Ming-Ju Chen, the director the college’s Center for International Agricultural Education and Academic Exchange, visited four European agricultural universities: Purpan and ISA Groupe in France and Wageningen University and CAH Vilentum University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.

The college signed cooperation agreements with Purpan and ISA Groupe in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and now has student exchange programs with each of these institutions. The purpose of this year’s visit was to gain a better understanding of the two institutions’ facilities and resources as well as to meet with their officials and international affairs personnel to build relationships and discuss further possible areas of cooperation.

The college is working to establish partnerships with the two Dutch universities. It has initiated procedures to finalize an agreement with CAH Vilentum University of Applied Sciences. Also, Wageningen University has agreed to sign agreements for academic cooperation and student exchanges and is preparing drafts of such agreements. Deputy Dean Wang and Director Chen also squeezed in a visit to Montpellier SupAgro in southern France, where they met with international affairs officials and held preliminary talks regarding possible areas of cooperation.

Impressed with SupAgro’s outstanding achievements in agricultural research, the college has designated the French institution an important target for cooperation.