On the afternoon of October 29, Robin Banerjee, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, and his delegation visited Beijing Normal University (BNU). Chen Xing, Vice President of BNU, met with the guests.

Chen extended a warm welcome to Banerjee and his delegation. He briefly reviewed exchanges between the two universities in multiple fields and expressed the hope that, building on existing cooperation, the two sides would explore new pathways for diversified collaboration, deepen mutual learning, and strengthen dialogue in areas such as development studies and sustainable development, so as to bring the bilateral relationship to a new level through closer personnel exchanges and research collaboration.

Banerjee thanked BNU for its warm reception and highlighted the University of Sussex's distinctive interdisciplinary approach and achievements. He expressed the expectation that the two sides would leverage their disciplinary strengths to establish cooperation in interdisciplinary fields and continue to produce substantive outcomes.

At the meeting, Chen Xing and Banerjee jointly renewed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the two universities, laying the foundation for substantive multi-field cooperation in the next stage.

Relevant heads from the UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED), the Belt and Road School (BRS), and the Office of International Exchange and Cooperation attended the meeting.

The University of Sussex is one of the universities established during the wave of new universities in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. It currently has nearly 20,000 students and has had six Nobel laureates among its faculty. Through its deep collaboration with the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), the University of Sussex has ranked first globally in development studies in the QS World University Rankings by Subject for ten consecutive years.