home > news

Oil city puts education projects in the pipeline

By Sun Hui

print mail large  medium  small

In the early days of September, local people in Karamay found the oil city’s streets transformed by the arrival of hundreds of excited students ready to start their first ever semester at China University of Petroleum (Karamay), the city’s first ever university.

The new university held its opening ceremony on Sept 3 to welcome its first cohort of 461 first-year students, who have travelled from 16 different provinces to study in the city in the north of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Dozens of government figures and company leaders attended the ceremony, demonstrating the importance the city attaches to engineering education in its drive to become a “world oil city”. This included Chen Xinfa, secretary of Karamay municipality Party committee, Zhang Laibin, president of the China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Yu Minhong, founder of the New Oriental Education and Technology Group, and Gerard Clancy, president of the University of Tulsa.

Chen delivered a passionate speech at the opening ceremony. “Karamay is a young, modern, and industrialized city. The city is located in an area with abundant gas and oil resources and has already developed efficient oil and petroleum industries. The foundation of the university in Karamay marks a significant moment for the city on an educational level,” he said.

The Karamay government signed an agreement with the China University of Petroleum to bring the engineering college to the city in September 2010. The college will focus on scientific research and education, including dual degrees, professional master’s and further education programs, as well as courses for foreign students.

The new college is located in Karamay’s engineering education base, often referred to by local residents as “university town”, a huge complex established by the city designed to provide the resources necessary to turn the area into a world-class education hub.

The education base is also home to the country’s largest training base for the petroleum and petrochemical industries, putting Karamay at the forefront of engineering education in China.

Another college in Karamay also began its first full academic year in September. Houbo College, a new branch of Xinjiang Medical University, welcomed 778 new first-year students on Sept 10, three years after Karamay and Xinjiang Medical University agreed to build the college in December 2012.

The college is expected to make a great contribution to medical education and medical services in Karamay, helping Karamay to become a city with top-ranking education and health care systems.

 

Oil city puts education projects in the pipeline

Officials at the Karamay campus of China University of Petroleum prepare to hold an opening ceremony for the new college on Sept 3. The university welcomed 461 first-year students from 16 provinces to their new home for the next four years during the ceremony. [Photo/kelamayi.com.cn]

Previous Page 1 2 Next Page