Now in its 20th year the internship program that brings officials from the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) to Queen’s University continues to foster strong connections.

Having completed a five-month internship program, the six newest graduates of the program celebrated their accomplishments with Queen’s representatives and partner organizations on Tuesday, Jan. 26.

At the event, each of the interns spoke about what they had gained, and all referred to the relationships that had been fostered with the university, the participating organizations and especially their Canadian colleagues.

“This collaboration has been beneficial for all those involved, Queen’s and the MLR in particular, for 20 years and will continue into the future,” says Professor Emeritus Hok-Lin Leung, the former director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning, who leads the program. “Queen’s University is proud to be the Canadian partner to this internship program, which fosters the exchange of ideas and practices in land and mining management between the interns and their hosting organizations.”

The annual program, a partnership between Queen’s and the MLR, sees a group of staff from the ministry spend between three and six months in a Canadian public or private organization, working as an intern in the field of land and resource management.

The Queen’s-MLR partnership also includes an internship for Queen’s students in China and a program that sees up to 50 MLR staff members and mining professionals attend a three-week training program run jointly with the Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering and the Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining.

The partnership between Queen’s and the MLR is one of many that the university has developed with partners in China. Highlights include a recently established Master of Finance program with Renmin University, a semester abroad program with Fudan University, as well as a 2+2 degree program and environment research network with Tongji University. China is a priority region in Queen’s efforts to enhance its international reach.