China is setting up its own version of America’s Caltech to rival US in innovation
Westlake University has received the go-ahead to set up China’s first doctorate-granting private institution focused on high-level research and innovation
China is creating its own version of America’s Caltech – a top global science and technology university – by establishing the country’s first doctorate-granting private institution focused on high-level research and innovation.
Westlake University, which is to enrol its first 130 PhD students for the new academic year starting in September, will become “first-class in Asia, joining legions of other world-class institutions”, Shi Yigong, a prominent biophysicist who is leading the new institute’s preparation team, said.
State education authorities this week approved the project in Hangzhou, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province.
“In five years, our faculty research abilities will be on a par with those of Tokyo University, Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,” Shi said in a December speech that outlined the then-proposed university’s ambitions.
For a start, like its US role model, the California Institute of Technology, the new Chinese university – which has received extensive funding from China’s government and business leaders – will only take in students studying for doctorates.