A new academic project between China and Italy is becoming reality as of September 2006. Following the agreement between the Italian Minister of Education Letizia Moratti and her Chinese counterpart Zhou Ji, the Chinese-Italian virtual university campus will become operational as of autumn this year, starting with the bachelor programmes in economics and engineering. The virtual campus is made up of several poles, located in different Chinese and Italian universities and corresponding to different areas of expertise.

The programmes offered by this virtual university are characterised by a mobility component: Students spend their first year at their respective home country, and they get together in the second year (to be spent in China) and third year (to be spent in Italy). Courses are taught in English by both Italian and Chinese lecturers, although Italian students are required to learn Chinese and Chinese students are required to learn Italian.

The participating universities are the Polytechnic of Milan, the Polytechnic of Turin and Tongji University in Shanghai, for the engineering pole; Bocconi University (Milan), Luiss University (Rome) and Fudan University (Shanghai) for the economics pole. The two participating Chinese universities are conveniently located in Shanghai, following Italy’s request, since the city has a high concentration of Italian enterprises. Besides the bachelor programmes, a Master programme in International Management of the duration of two years will also be available, with students spending the first year in China and the second in Milan or Rome. The bachelor and Master degrees are delivered by the partner universities of both countries.