Collaboration with leading Chinese university will create more computer science candidates in Denmark and China

- Chinese universities are developing with lightning speed within research and education, and the quality is very high, says Head of Department of Computer Science at University of Copenhagen (DIKU), Mads Nielsen and continues:

- Their candidates are of very high quality, but there’s a tendency for them to go to English speaking countries. This is a pattern that we would like to break and thus, attract more Chinese students to Denmark. This will contribute positively to the lack of employees with computer science skills in Danish industry, says Mads Nielsen.

This visit was the latest in a number of visits that began one and a half year ago. The purpose of this recent visit was to discuss how UESTC and DIKU can strengthen the collaboration both within education but not least research:

- China is investing a lot in research and education within the classical scientific subjects including IT and computer science, and Chengdu has been appointed one of the focus areas within IT in China. This is why I believe there is a great potential in an increased and long-standing collaboration within both education and research, says Mads Nielsen.

Joint PhD programme and customised teaching

In the fall of 2017, a number of mutual visits between DIKU in Copenhagen and UESTC in Chengdu were initiated. This culminated in the signing of the first set of collaboration agreements in the fall of 2018. The agreements cover a joint PhD programme and a course for UESTC students by DIKU researchers to prepare the students for admission to DIKU’s master programme in Computer Science.

The joint PhD programme will make it possible for PhD students to be enrolled at both DIKU and UESTC at the same time, working on joint research projects and supervision from both institutions.

Furthermore, the students at UESTC will have the opportunity to take a course in Chengdu taught by DIKU’s professor Jon Sporring and assistant professor Boris Düdder, This will prepare them for the master’s programme in computer science at University of Copenhagen:

- We believe it’s important, that computer science candidates are experienced within various programming paradigms. This is not a tradition in China. This course will focus on functional programming but will also explore new teaching methods to inspire both parties, says professor and Deputy Head of Department of Research at DIKU.