Friendship Across the Ocean——President of La Trobe University (LTU) Sent Letter to JUST on Fighting Against COVID-19

We sincerely hope that the haze of the epidemic will soon dissipate, and we fully support you! Recently, Prof. John Dewar, president of LTU sent a letter of condolence to President Zhou Nanping, on the outbreak of the epidemic, conveying the concern and support for all the teachers and students of JUST, and LTU is ready to provide all possible help in all ways.

In his letter, President John Dewar said LTU is doing all it can to support Chinese students who plan to begin or continue their studies in 2020. Students affected by the government's travel restrictions have been offered flexible course choices and personalized study plans to help them get started as soon as possible. LTU will offer as many online courses as possible for Chinese students, and will offer all students with access to free, confidential counseling and support services should they need additional help.

Jiangsu University of Science and Technology is a valuable partner of La Trobe University, “President John Dewar wrote in the letter, “Difficult times call for friends to support one another. LTU are ready to offer whatever expertise and support in whatever way we can. We are proud of our long friendship with China. We have the closest ties to China, Chinese students and Chinese partners. We are committed to providing Chinese students with flexible options to help them to commence their study. 

Prof. Richard Speed, vice-chancellor and prof. Amalia Di Iorio, Associate Pro Vice-chancellor, have met with Mr Chunming Guo from the Chinese Consulate- General in Melbourne to assure that LTU are taking every possible action to support Chinese students and partners.   

President Zhou Nanping of JUST wrote back to President John Dewar on February 24th, to extend thankfulness to him and all LTU colleagues for their concern and support, as well as for the reasonable arrangement and full assistance provided to the students who could not go to Australia on schedule. President Zhou also informed the President John Dewar that the epidemic situation in China has shown a positive trend, expecting the final victory in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic and could continue to expand and improve partnership.

LTU is one of the most important long-term cooperative universities of JUST. Since 2004, JUST and LTU have jointly held the cooperation project at the undergraduate level of business administration. In 2016, the project was selected as one of the first batch of cultivation points for the construction of high-level demonstration projects for Sino-Foreign cooperation in Jiangsu universities and passed the mid-term inspection in 2018. With high comprehensive quality, strong English communication skills, international vision and other unique advantages and competitive recognized by society, project students’ employment rate is 99%. 71 students go further study in the Eight Famous Universities like University of Melbourne. Some enter the world top 500 and domestic famous enterprises and government departments to work.