Liverpool Hope has signed a new partnership agreement with the Catholic University of Lille.
At a ceremony in Lille, Liverpool Hope’s Vice-Chancellor & Rector Professor Gerald J Pillay, and his French counterpart Professor Pierre Giorgini committed to a new five-year programme of cooperation between the two universities.
The partnership was established in 2016, and has led to a range of collaborative ventures, including joint degrees, PhD scholarships, exchanges of staff and students, and a number of joint research projects. The extension to the original agreement will take the partnership through to 2025.
Dr Michael Holmes, Director of the Lille-Liverpool European Institute, which oversees the partnership, said: “The renewal of the partnership is a sign of the success we have achieved so far.”
He noted that Brexit will make such international cooperation more difficult, but that it also makes it all the more important to keep our international links open.
Dr Holmes said: "We need to develop and expand our international links, now more than ever. The word 'university' comes from the idea of a 'universal' education, and universities have always been based on principles of openness and internationalism."