Recently, the Ministry of Education has officially approved the undergraduate cooperative education program in Information and Computational Science jointly launched by Northeast Forestry University (NEFU) and Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. This milestone approval marks the first officially sanctioned Sino-foreign cooperative education program of NEFU at Hainan International College, signifying the continuous expansion and quality upgrading of the university’s international talent training system.
Affiliated to Hainan International College, the undergraduate program in Information and Computational Science is located in the Lingshui Li’an International Education Innovation Pilot Zone in Hainan. The program has a total enrollment capacity of 400 students, with an annual admission quota of 100 students. Adopting a "3+1" training model, the program arranges students to complete their first three years of undergraduate studies at Northeast Forestry University and pursue their fourth year of study at Birkbeck College, University of London. Students who complete the prescribed training curriculum and meet all graduation and degree awarding requirements within the standard study period will be conferred with a bachelor’s graduation certificate and a bachelor’s degree from Northeast Forestry University, as well as a bachelor’s degree from the University of London.
Founded in 1823, Birkbeck College, University of London is one of the oldest public research universities in the United Kingdom and a constituent college of the prestigious University of London. It boasts profound academic accumulation and extensive international influence in humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and interdisciplinary research. Upholding an inclusive and open educational philosophy, the college prioritizes high-level scientific research and interdisciplinary integration. As one of the world’s earliest universities to establish a computer science department, Birkbeck College has been engaged in computer science teaching and research since 1957 and enjoys long-standing academic prestige in data management and computational intelligence. It has evolved into a world-leading research and talent cultivation center specializing in algorithms, artificial intelligence, databases, data science and data analysis.
Aligned with the digital and intelligent development trends, the Information and Computational Science program adopts an innovative international talent training paradigm featuring "solid mathematical foundation, proficient computational thinking and global vision". It establishes a systematic Sino-foreign collaborative education mechanism, aiming to cultivate high-caliber international innovative talents with patriotism and global perspective, outstanding practical and innovative capabilities in information and computational science, core competitive strengths, profound humanistic literacy and sound scientific ethics, who can contribute to the construction of a Beautiful China.
The official approval of this cooperative education program constitutes a significant achievement of the university in further advancing educational opening-up and integrating into the development strategy of Hainan Free Trade Port and international education innovation. Moving forward, taking this program as a key opportunity, NEFU will continuously introduce high-quality international educational resources, deepen in-depth cooperation with world-class foreign universities, steadily improve the quality of talent cultivation and international schooling standards, and inject new impetus into the university’s endeavor of building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics.
