Recently,the Anhui Provincial Department of Educationforwarded a notice from the Department of International CooperationandExchangesof the Ministry of Education(MOE)that the 3+1UndergraduateForestryEducationProgrambetweentheAnhui Agricultural University(AAU)and LakeheadUniversity in Canada was approved byMOE.TheProgramwill start in September 2021 with an annual enrollment of 60 students. The approvedprogramis the first Sino-foreign cooperative educationprogramof AAUapproved byMOE.
Sino-foreigncooperation in running schoolis an important way to promote the internationalization of higher education. AAUhas always attached great importance to the application of Sino-foreign cooperative educationprogram, and has actively docked with foreign universities with high quality educational resources and jointly formulatedprogramplans. The implementation of thisProgramis conducive to further expanding the opening of education to the outside world, improving the quality of international talent cultivation, and boosting the construction of the university's advantageous disciplines.
Founded in 1965, LakeheadUniversity is a public research-basedcomprehensive university located in Thunder Bay and Orilla, Ontario.In the 2020 Maclean’s University Rankings, Lakehead was ranked Canada’s top 10 primarily undergraduate university and was ranked 13th for employability in Canada. During 2015-2018, Research Infosource has named Lakehead first place of the Canada’s Research University of the Year in the undergraduate university category.The Forestry program is the university's strength.
Anhui Agricultural University has afirst-classmaster's degree andadoctoral degree in forestry, as well as a first-class professional master's degree in forestry. The discipline of forestrywas listed inthe first batch of domestic first-classdisciplineconstructionprojectin Anhui Province andit isthe key discipline of National Forestry and Grassland Administration.Ithas 6 provincial and ministerial experimental and practical teaching platforms. Themajorof forestry is a specialty of Anhui Province.In 2019,it was selected as one of the first national first-class undergraduate majors in the "DoubleTen ThousandPlan".
In2013, the 2+2 joint education program carried out byAAUandLakeheadUniversity in forestrywaslaunchedafter it wasapproved by the Anhui Provincial Department of Education.. A total of 172 students have been admitted to the program. The feedback from the program graduates is good, and some ofthe graduates pursue further studies in prestigeous universities like the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia in Canada.Thefirst-time employment ratewasover 90%.
The approved program further actively introduces high-quality faculty, curriculum and teaching materials to the forestrymajorfrom LakeheadUniversity. The program is a four-year program, in whichduringthe first three years students study atAAU, and those who have completed the required credits and meet the English language requirements can enter the second stage of the program at LakeheadUniversity in the fourth year. After completing all the credits stipulated in the education and teaching plan jointly developed by both sides, students will receive a bachelor's diploma and a bachelor's degree awarded byAAUand a bachelor's degree awarded by LakeheadUniversity.
