XJTLU

I attend a presentation by pro-vice-chancellor Kelvin Everest about progress on Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Liverpool's partnet instsute in China, and the university's big project. From the statistics, and the pictures of the development in which this university forms a small part, you just have to be wowed by the sheer scale and pace of the economic development in China.

I would like to go there, if only for a short time, just to witness and play a small part in this major piece of history, i.e. the economic rise and rise of China. As academics (especially research-active ones), we purposefully cut ourselves off from the general business of "making things happen", but I for one can't pretend to be indifferent!

XJTLU will be a new university, built from scratch and then peopled with staff and students, all within about 10 years, and will be just one of 10 new universities on a 240 square km "business park", really an entire city. People who have been there are awed by the pace of change that you see from visit to visit.