Michael Hengartner Made Honorary Professor at Tianjin University

Last Saturday, the School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology and the School of Life Sciences at Tianjin University near Beijing conferred an honorary professorship on UZH President Michael Hengartner. The title is comparable to an honorary doctorate from UZH.

At the same time, Michael Hengartner was made a member of the international advisory board of the new Translational Health Science platform, which the schools of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology and Life Sciences have set up with the goal of strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration in health science.

Intensifying contact

Hengartner also signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at stepping up collaboration with Tianjin University. With plans to also intensify contact between UZH and Tianjin University in the form of student exchanges, Michael Hengartner and president Li Jiajun signed an agreement which as of next year will enable students at the UZH Faculty of Science to spend one or two semesters studying at Tianjin University.

Tianjin is one of the top universities in China, and already has close ties with the University of Zurich. This collaboration has been intensified by UZH chemistry professors Jay Siegel and Kim Baldridge, who went to Tianjin in 2014 and will be working there until 2017. Jay Siegel is dean, and Kim Baldridge vice-dean, of the School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, and Jay Siegel is now also dean of the School of Life Sciences.

On his week-long trip to China, Michael Hengartner also visited the Annual Meeting of the New Champions staged by the World Economic Forum in the city of Dalian. His visit to China and the signing of the agreements with Tianjin University were organized with the support of the UZH International Relations Office.