On September 11, the Irish Ambassador to China, H.E. Mr. Eoin O'Leary, and his delegation visited BJUT and attended the opening ceremony of Beijing-Dublin International College (BDIC) at BJUT for the 2020 freshmen. On behalf of the university, Liu Gonghui, Deputy Secretary of CPC BJUT Committee & President of the university, in the company of Vice President Guo Fu and officials of the International Office and BDIC, met with Ambassador H.E. Mr. Eoin O'Leary and his delegation.

President Liu Gonghui welcomed Ambassador H.E. Mr. Eoin O'Leary and his delegation. He briefly reviewed the development and major accomplishments of BDIC since its establishment in 2012 and extended his gratitude to the Irish Embassy in China for its support for the cooperation between BJUT and Irish universities over the years. He highlighted the 2020 freshman enrolment. Furthermore, he pointed out that, although the COVID-19 has brought great impact and challenge to sino-foreign joint education programs, BDIC still has bucked the trend with a leap in student enrollment this year, which fully suggested that the quality of the College’s education has been widely recognized by the public. At present, BJUT is discussing the renewal of the sino-foreign joint program agreement with the University College Dublin. Heartened by the bountiful results from the friendly cooperation in the past eight years, both sides placed faith in the future cooperation and would continue to improve the quality and global influence of the College with the drive towards a model high-level sino-foreign cooperative institution.

Ambassador H.E. Mr. Eoin O'Leary expressed his thanks for the warm host. He lauded the remarkable progress and achievements made by BDIC in various fields in recent years, and highly appreciated the importance and contribution of the College when in promoting Sino-Irish cultural exchanges. He briefed the important measures taken by the Irish Embassy in China to enhance cultural exchanges between China and Ireland amid the regular pandemic prevention and control when he offered his congratulation to China and BJUT on their strategic achievements in fighting the pandemic. He said that he was very delighted to visit BJUT on numerous occasions during his three years in office and witnessed great moments in the recent history of the BDIC’s development. Despite that he is about to leave his post as an Irish Ambassador to China soon, he will continue to pay close attention to the development of BJUT and BDIC in his new role. He is also firmly convinced that BDIC, as an important tie between Sino-Irish cultural exchanges, will remain strongly backed by the Chinese and Irish governments.

Following the talks, the two sides attended the opening ceremony of BDIC for the 2020 freshmen.