On November 22 and 23, at the invitation of Professor BIAN Yanjie, the dean of the XJTU School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Head of the School of Social Sciences of the University of Manchester, Professor Fiona DEVINE and her party visited the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, where they met with Assistant Dean CHENG Guangxu and Presidential Assistant GONG Hui. During the course of the visit, the two parties signed an agreement to establish a joint masters program in sociology; they also continued informal discussions on a number of other matters of joint concern.

Professor BIAN Yanjie gave the visiting delegation a brief introduction to the structure of the school’s academic programs, to the research interests of its faculty, and to its foreign exchange and international study programs. Professor DEVINE observed that the two universities were both comprehensive universities and that they could learn much from each other and make progress together.

Also on November 22, Professor DEVINE introduced the University of Manchester to the teachers and students of the School of Economics and Finance, the School of Foreign Languages, the School of Public Policy and Management, the School of Law and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. In addition, she discussed the social research methods and statistical projects of the University of Manchester’s Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research.