Agreement sparks collaborations with schools in Beijing, Shanghai

Forster Ndubisi, head of Texas A&M’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, and his counterparts at two leading Chinese universities have agreed to explore the possibility of academic exchanges between the two institutions by signing letters of cooperation during May and June meetings in China.

Ndubisi, Xiong Li, dean of Beijing Forestry University’s School of Landscape Architecture, Zilai Tang, head of Shanghai’s Tongji University Department of Urban Planning, and Binyi Liu, head of Tongji University’s Department of Landscape Studies, signed the letters indicating their institutions’ interest in collaborating in areas including teaching and research, student enrollment, internships and field studies.

Ming-Han Li, Texas A&M associate professor of landscape architecture, who also made the trip, and Ndubisi presented their research at the two Chinese universities.

Zhi Qu of BFU and Chengzhou Wu of TJU, past visiting scholars at Texas A&M’s landscape architecture and urban planning programs, facilitated the administrators’ meetings and will help develop the proposed exchanges.

While in China, Ndubisi and Li also sought internship and training opportunities for students at Beijing’s Tsinghua Urban Planning & Design Institute, a public/private entity associated with Tsinghua University that provides design and planning services.