On September 30, 2017, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GSCAAS) Vice President professor Liu Rongle met with professor Felix Dapare Dakora, President of African Academy of Sciences (AAS) in Beijing. Both agreed to future collaborate in capacity building and graduate education between the two institutions in the near future.

After a brief introduction about GSCAAS, professor Liu proposed the two sides to enter into an agreement on master and doctoral students training at GSCAAS. He pointed out that, as one of the better-known graduate schools in China, GSCAAS is ready to welcome more African students who are interested in furthering their study in the field of agriculture in China.

“Under the framework of South-South collaboration, we are expecting to collaborate with AAS as well as other African universities or institutes in the fields of capacity building and graduate education”, said professor Liu. “More and more young students are attracted to study at CAAS. In the year of 2008, only 11 international students were first admitted; today, approximately 400 students from 51 countries across the five continents are studying at CAAS”, professor Liu added.

Professor Dakora expressed his thanks for the warm reception and agreed with professor Liu’s proposal. He stressed that it would be a win-win solution to encourage more young elites to study at CAAS, “as evidenced that most of them are contributing a great lot to the local agricultural research and development after their graduation from GSCAAS”, said professor Dakora.

Prior to this visit, professor Dakora paid his visit to the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) on the same day.

The African Academy of Sciences is an Africa-wide organization and it was founded in 1986 in Nairobi, Kenya. It serves firstly to honor African scientists who have become internationally renowned through their efforts in their respective fields, and secondly to encourage the development of the research and technology base throughout the continent.