On 2 March 2017, H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) Secretary-General, met with Professor Wang Ruifang, President of Xiamen University Malaysia Campus (XMUMC), in Kuala Lumpur. Mr. Wang Huade, Director of Student Recruitment, Ms. Zhang Ying, Deputy Director of Academic Affairs, Ms. Li Xiaowen, Personal Assistant to President, and Ms. Zhong Lingyu, Media and Communication Officer, attended the meeting.

After warmly welcoming Mme. Yang Xiuping to XMUMC, Professor Wang Ruifang briefed that that Xiamen University has a long history of educational exchange and cooperation with Southeast Asian countries. Both sides have achieved remarkable success in student and faculty exchange, and joint educational programmes. The leaders of Malaysia and China attach great importance to the establishment of XMUMC. People from all walks of life also rendered significant supports to its founding and operation. XMUMC is the first overseas campus set up by a renowned Chinese university and the first Chinese university branch campus in Malaysia. By February 2017, XMUMC had enrolled 1,450 students, with an estimation of 3,000 students by September 2017. In addition to Malaysian and Chinese students, XMUMC has also attracted Indonesian and Singaporean students to the campus. XMUMC stands ready to embrace more students from ASEAN countries to pursue advanced studies. It would like to strengthen links and communication with ACC in nurturing more talents and promoting ASEAN-China educational cooperation.

Secretary-General Yang Xiuping appreciated XMUMC’s efforts to enhance ASEAN-China educational cooperation. She said that in 2016, which marked the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations and the Year of Educational Exchange, ACC carried out a series of activities to promote educational exchange and cooperation.

She said that youth is the future of ASEAN-China relations, and education determines the long-term development of a country and the well-being of its people. In recent years, ACC entered into close cooperation with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization in vocational education and youth exchange, with an ideal platform set up in the process. ACC would like to continue to facilitate interactions between XMUMC and ASEAN educational institutions to bring about more fruitful achievements in intercollegiate exchanges.