On March 18, a Durham University delegation, led by the university’s vice-chancellor Professor Karen O’Brien, paid a visit to the Yenching Academy. YCA Dean Dong Qiang received the delegation at Jingyuan Courtyard 3. Professor Zhang Longxi, Li De Chair Professor at Yenching Academy, attended the meeting.
Before her meeting with Professor Dong, Professor O’Brien was welcomed by He Guangcai, Chair of the PKU Council at Lin Hu Xuan. Fang Fang, Vice President of Peking University, was also present at the meeting.
Dean Dong Qiang extended a warm welcome to Professor O’Brien and her delegation and provided an overview of Yenching Academy, which is going to celebrate its 12th anniversary this May. The Academy’s interdisciplinary two-year master’s program in China Studies aims to provide young talents from around the world with a distinctive, internationalised learning and research experience. The initiative leverages PKU’s rich academic legacy in the humanities and offers diverse curricula delivered through classroom lectures, field trips, and seminars. At Yenching Academy, students gain an immersive experience of “studying China in China” and become future leaders with both global and Chinese perspectives. Dean Dong mentioned the Grand Tour in British history. He believed that global experiences, like the Grand Tour, are equally important in today’s increasingly internationalised era, noting that China is a must-stop in the global version of the Grand Tour. Yenching Academy is a partner college of Durham University and has enrolled seven Durham graduates to date. Dean Dong valued Professor O’Brien’s support for this cooperation and looked forward to deeper collaboration under the new agreement framework.
Professor O’Brien thanked Dean Dong for the warm welcome. She noted that she is both the executive chief of Durham University and a professor of humanities. She valued the global academic efforts, emphasising that the comparative study of social sciences and humanities continues to advance and offers global observations through both Western and Eastern lenses, an objective shared by both Durham University and Yenching Academy.
Joseph Bongard (UK, Cohort 2024) and Deiniol Brown (UK, Cohort 2025) joined the meeting. Both have enjoyed and cherished their life at YCA, where they have befriended young talents from all over the world. They’ve been exposed to new experiences about China through the Academy’s field trips and visits to various enterprises and institutions. In YCA’s multicultural environment, the two scholars have been inspired academically and professionally.
At the meeting, the two sides delved into the status and trends of the humanities and social sciences. Professor Zhang Longxi hailed YCA’s highly internationalised program, as reflected by its scholar profile and training model. Zhang shared his teaching experiences in the United States, Hong Kong and Peking University, observing a growing scholarly interest in humanities and social sciences. Students have expanded their cultural horizons through Professor Zhang’s comparative study of Western and Chinese literature, and in turn, the Professor has valued the in-depth and vibrant in-class discussion with YCA scholars, all of whom are top-university graduates.
Professor O’Brien concurred with Professor Zhang’s view. She was pleased to see the increasing global need for the humanities and social sciences. In the UK, humanities and social sciences are sometimes written off as sunset disciplines. However, as the geopolitical landscape grows increasingly complex alongside the rapid technological advancement, all sectors have come to recognise an urgent need of high-caliber students with critical thinking and a global comparative perspective. The STEM-dominant academic landscape may change in the coming years. Durham University will strive to preserve the diversity of disciplines.
Dean Dong stressed that human subjectivity and creativity are remarkably significant as artificial intelligence advances fast. To this end, the humanities and social sciences should be more highly valued for their irreplaceable role in cultivating critical thinking and cross-cultural understanding.
The two sides discussed the intersection of the humanities and social sciences with artificial intelligence, a general trend across global universities. Paths for innovation and development in the humanities and social sciences in the technological era are being explored through the establishment of research centers and institutes. It is self-evident that language learning underpins cross-cultural exchanges and comparative study. Both sides will continue to advance multi-lingual teaching.
Through the meeting, Yenching Academy and Durham University further consolidated their consensus on cooperation. The two institutions will deepen cooperation in the fields of academic visits and research. Both will remain committed to fostering more talents in the humanities and social sciences and will join hands to create a new academic ecology for international exchanges.
