A Scholarship Ceremony was organized by the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada on March 21, 2012 to recognize and celebrate the partnership between the Shanghai United Benefit Enterprise Group Ltd. (UBG) and UBC Forestry. This event was specially organized to recognize UBG’s contribution towards the United Benefit Group Fujian Forestry Scholarship. This is the first time in the history of the university that a mainland Chinese company has endowed a scholarship that funds mainland Chinese students to study at UBC.
The gift, a combination gift from UBG, its Chairman Hanfeng Zheng, Vice Chairman Xu Huang, and Executive Buyue Wang, endowed the scholarship to support students in the undergraduate “2+2” transfer program. In this program, a student completes 2 years of postsecondary education in China, followed by 2 years in Forestry at UBC.
UBG is a comprehensive company specializing in electrical products manufacturing, real estate development, international trade, ocean shipping and building materials development. UBG originated in Fujian Province, where forestry is a key industry. The scholarship was established by UBG to help students from Fujian obtain a quality education internationally in order to better manage forest resources at home.
The 2+2 transfer program began its development in 2005, and the first students came to UBC from China in 2008. Since then, over 40 students from Nanjing Forestry University, Fujian Agricultural and Forest University, and Beijing Forestry University have participated in the program. Currently, 32 more students are working towards transferring to UBC Forestry in Fall 2012.
UBC Forestry has a long history of cooperative relations with many Asian countries, including China, India, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia. In China, the Faculty has partnerships with the State Forestry Administration, provincial governments, universities and research institutes. The Faculty also provides training programs for Chinese mid-career professionals and academic support for Chinese visiting scholars.
The Faculty of Forestry is grateful for the support of UBG and its senior leaders, and looks forward to ongoing strong relationships with its partners in China.
The United Benefit Group Fujian Forestry Scholarship will be awarded for the first time in Fall 2012.