Calendar 2002–03

76 Part 2•General Information In addition,staff exchanges and development programmesare maintained through agreements with respective governments and exchange organizations. Visiting lectureships havebeen provided by the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan; many graduates of theUniversity havealso obtained fellowships for advanced studies in these and other countries. The University has also benefited from the support of various foundations for staff development, research, scholarships, and exchange programmes with an international dimension. These foundations include the Yale-China Association, theHarvard-Yenching Institute, the UnitedBoard for Christian Higher Education in Asia, the Fulbright Program, the Japan Foundation, the Wei Lun Endowment Fund Foundation, the Sino-British Fellowship Trust and the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund Council. The University’s constituent colleges as well as other academic units have individually established links with universities abroad. China Links Th e Univer sity has consisten tly d evelo ped acad emic lin ks an d r esear ch collaboration with educational and research institutions on the mainland and in Taiwan. Both the scope and the mode of exchange activities have exp anded considerably over the years.Each year the University receives over 1,000 academic visitors from the mainland and Taiwan. At the same time, hundreds of faculty staff of the University conduct academic visits to institutions on the mainland and in Taiwan . Some of them also serve as honorary professors, advisers and consultants to various mainland institutions and government agencies. Formal exchange agreements have been concluded by the University or its academic departments with various institutions, including the Academia Sinica, the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Chongqing University, College of Foreign Affairs, Fourth Military Medical University, Fudan University, Harbin Univ ersity of Technolog y, Lanzhou Un iversity, Nan jing University, Peking Un iv ersity, Sh ang hai Jiaoto ng Un iversity , Shantou Un iversity , Sichu an University, Taiwan Un iversity, Taiwan Chiao Tung Un iversity, Su n Yat- sen University, Tianjin University, Tsinghua University, Yunnan University, Wuhan University, Xiamen University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University, and Zhongshan University. Th e Un iversity h as established a n umber o f mu lti-lateral, and cross- disciplinary research centres with its partners such as the Shanghai-Hong Kong Development Institute, the Joint Research Centre for Biomedical Engineering, the Epithelial Cell Biology Research Cen tre, the Jo int Laboratory f or Plant Mo lecular Bio log y and Bio techno log y, th e Join t Centre for I ntelligen ce Engineering, the Joint Laboratory for Geoinformation Science, and the Hong Kong Base of Research, Development and Training of National Remote Sensing Centre of China. Th ese centres play a very important role in promoting high- standard scientific research and enhancing collaborative relationship among the