On Saturday 13th September, WMG was pleased to welcome His Excellency Ma Kai, Vice Premier of China, along with a delegation of senior officials including Liu Xiaoming, Chinese Ambassador to the UK, and Sir Sebastian Wood, Britain’s Ambassador to China.

Meeting with Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, the Vice Premier and the Ambassadors were interested to understand more about WMG and how the Group develops partnerships with industry and the significant economic benefits of such partnerships. There were also discussions on current WMG collaborations with China and how these can be further developed.

The delegation was excited to see the breadth of research undertaken at WMG, especially in lightweighting and energy. This was of particular interest to H.E. Ma Kai as this relates to his role leading economic development in China and he was impressed with WMG’s collaborative research projects with industry.

The Vice Premier and the Ambassadors toured WMG’s facilities which included an introduction to energy research from Dr Rohit Bhagat and Mark Amor-Segan at the Energy Innovation Centre. At the International Manufacturing Centre, Professor Darek Ceglarek discussed innovations in digital manufacturing processes and Professor Richard Dashwood and Neil Reynolds explained WMG’s research in composites and lightweight materials.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya said:

"I was delighted to host the Vice Premier, the Ambassadors and senior officials and to be able to show the breadth of WMG activities. WMG has had a close relationship with China since the 1980s, when we were one of the first the first to offer our programmes there. The Vice Premier was very knowledgeable and interested in WMG’s activities and he looked forward to further developing our collaborative activities with China.”

WMG has strong and well-established links with various universities in China and has trained more than 5,000 engineers and managers from various Chinese industries and government. WMG was the only academic institution visited by the Vice Premier during his time in the UK; he also visited Jaguar Land Rover after he left WMG. The Vice Premier was visiting the UK to take part in the sixth UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue.

For further information please contact:

Peter Dunn, Director of Press and Policy
University of Warwick
Tel UK 024 76523708 office 07767 655860 mobile
Tel Overseas: +44 (0)24 76523708 office +44 (0)7767 655860 mobile/cell
Email: p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk

PR225 16th September 2014