New Asia Business Centre to boost growth

PA 367/11

The University of Nottingham’s many connections throughout Asia span education, research and innovation, but also business engagement, trade and investment. Established links are creating more opportunities each week. Now a new Asia Business Centre will coordinate and grow this activity.

The Asia Business Centre is to be launched at Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus on Monday 28 November at an event for many of the University’s partners with Asia-Pacific interests. Speakers will showcase the full scope of this new approach to the University’s business-facing programmes in Asia.

The Centre’s team will run events, support innovation partnerships and knowledge-transfer programmes across the University’s Malaysia, China and UK campuses and other offices throughout the region. It will also work with national and regional governments to create new opportunities, and manage ongoing links and relationships.

A high-level Asia Advisory Board is being created to influence and leverage engagement with Asia. Meeting on a twice yearly basis, the board will develop corporate, philanthropic, student employment and mobility links throughout the region.

In parallel, a new Nottingham Asia Network for academic staff will link the University’s campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia, building business, education and research collaboration.

The Nottingham Asia Network can help bring forward projects to support the Nottingham’s Impact Campaign, which aims to raise £150m over the next five years. Impact will support a series of high-impact projects on the local, national and global stage.

“The new Asia Business Centre forms part of a three-pronged way of coordinating the University’s engagement with Asia,” said Professor Chris Rudd, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Business Engagement and Knowledge Transfer at The University of Nottingham.

“With our mature and highly regarded campus bases in Asia, combined with the extensive range of influential we have created through educational and research partnerships, Nottingham has enviable potential to grow business engagement — but this window of opportunity is limited.

“It’s important we continue to develop, to innovate and to exploit our first-mover advantage in the region. This will build volume, continue to differentiate the institution as other western players enter the Asian market with campus offers, and demonstrate value to UK stakeholders through benefits to local and national economies, student experience and local communities.”

The Advisory Board will aim to provide high-level influence and leverage on behalf of the University and its partners, whilst the Business Centre provides an internal and external focus for business engagement, inward investment and technology transfer opportunities.

The Asia Business Centre will:

> support innovation partnerships and knowledge-transfer programmes between campuses in Asia through an events programme
> identify and develop industrial R&D projects in Asia, contracting research for Research and Graduate Services and the International Office
> develop training and internships within the University and for The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) and The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC)
> support Asia activities in , the Campaign Office and the International Office
> support the Campaign Office with
o existing key Asia networks
o collaboration with UNIEI for Asia facing student business and mobility
o working with existing Asia based donors
o research into new philanthropic opportunities
> carry out engagement and public affairs work with
o political
o government departments in host countries
o leading UK based business engagement organisations eg. UKTI
o providing solutions for business, eg. signposting to professional service providers, language support and innovation support

> link with Nottingham Technologies Asia (NTA), in China, and MyRIAD, in Malaysia.

The University of Nottingham’s links with Malaysia go back 60 years. In 1950, the first group of Malaysian students arrived in Nottingham. That nation’s association with the University has seen Nottingham graduates such as YAB Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, become leading members of society.

In 2000, The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) first opened its doors to just 90 students in Kuala Lumpur. Since then, our student body in Malaysia has grown to around 4,000 — including more than 70 nationalities — based at our 101-acre dedicated campus site in Semenyih. It is celebrating its eleventh anniversary this month.

The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) was the first Western university to open in China, in 2004, and now has more than 5,000 students. All degree programmes are taught in English and students receive a British-style education and UK degrees from The University of Nottingham.

Follow the Asia Business Centre on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AsiaBusinessCtr