UNNC awards first PhDs

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Category: On The Campus

Published: Tuesday, 26 November 2013 09:39

The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), the overseas campus of the University of Nottingham, awarded its first PhD degrees to two students last Saturday, who had successfully completed their doctoral studies. They are also the first PhD graduates from overseas campus of foreign universities in China.

This two PhDs were Zhou Tongyu, a Chinese, and NGUYEN Vu Hong Thai, a Vietnamese.

Zhou Tongyu won a national patent during his doctoral study. In 2011, together with Prof. Jo Darkwa, director of the UNNC Center for Sustainable Energy Technology, and Su Weiguang, the Assistant Professor of UNNC, Zhou invented an energy-saving building material, which saves one third of the energy than regular materials. The invention had been granted the national invention patent this September.

NGUYEN Vu Hong Thai was admitted as a postgraduate of finance and banking of UNNC after he won his undergraduate degree as a financial management major in University of Nottingham. He also won a full scholarship including tuition, living expenses and flights between China and the United Kingdom.

The Two PhDs agreed that it is not an easy job to get a PhD degree in UNNC.

According to the school authority of UNNC, the validation of the PhD degree requires generally three to four years full-time study. UNNC is subject to the same admission requirements as the UK campuses. Each doctoral student will be assigned two supervisors, one in the UK and one at UNNC. Each doctoral student also has the opportunity to carry out a one-year study in the UK campus.

All doctoral applicants are required to submit a research proposal with their application. Once admitted, they shall discuss all aspects of the proposed research project with the proposed supervisor until the project is settled. During their research and study period, they have to go through numerous seminars, annual reports before they complete their doctoral dissertation of about 100,000 words. They can finally get PhD degrees after a successful dissertation defense.