International Visits · China
Knowledge exchange with China: five cities in a few days
2025
In June the rector and the international coordinator travelled through China to meet possible partners, and returned with a cooperation agreement with a mountain village in rural Hunan.
In only a few days the delegation visited five cities and met a range of actors who were positive to cooperation on knowledge exchange and training. Social entrepreneurship stands out as one of the fields with the greatest potential for international cooperation.
Ahead of the journey KBT consulted the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the college keeps a continuous dialogue with the ministry to make sure cooperation with Chinese actors is built on sound premises in both countries.
In the rural part of Hunan province, home to part of the Miao people, one of China's 55 official minority groups, a cooperation agreement was signed with the mountain village of Huangjin. The agreement covers village development, cultural exchange and mutual visits, and the village would also like a sister village in Norway. Tea is their foremost product, and they are interested in tourism and trade in agricultural goods.
“It was interesting to see how they had organised the village and established close cooperation between everyone producing tea. By organising together they had increased profitability. There is a lot for us to learn from this, and much of it can be transferred to Norwegian conditions,” says rector Karl Johan Johansen.
From the mountains of Hunan the journey continued by high-speed train to Beijing and a meeting with CCFA, a Chinese farmers' organisation strongly committed to sustainable rural development. The delegation also visited Hunan University of Science and Technology, where cooperation on student exchange and joint projects was discussed with the International Exchange Office.
