Chinese officials discuss academic collaborations with K-State Olathe

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017

Representatives from K-State Olathe and the Hunan University of Humanities, Science and Technology discuss potential academic collaborations.

OLATHE — On Wednesday, Nov. 1, Kansas State University Olathe hosted representatives from the Hunan University of Humanities, Science and Technology to discuss academic collaboration and the One Health approach to human and animal medical research.

Five senior administrators, faculty and staff members from Hunan University met with K-State Olathe administrators, faculty and staff. The visitors gave a short presentation about their university before transitioning to an open dialog with
K-State Olathe about potential collaborations through graduate-level academic programs.

"Our proximity to an international airport coupled with our sophisticated classroom video-teleconference infrastructure facilitates partnerships with foreign universities," said Dean Vakas, chief operating officer at K-State Olathe. "We are working to fully explore this potential in coordination with the Office of International Programs and K-State Global."

In keeping with Chinese customs, a memorandum of understanding, or MoU, was signed and a gift exchange concluded the meeting.

Following the meeting, Hunan University representatives toured the building and joined the more than 180 attendees participating in Kansas City One Health Day, an event that spotlighted and celebrated a collaborative approach to human, animal and environmental health.

Hunan University is located in the Loudi, Hunan province of China. The university has 15 colleges, 50 undergraduate programs serve more than 16,000 full-time students.