On Wednesday 13 September, our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Robert Van de Noort, hosted an Alumni Drinks Reception in Beijing. With over 100 graduates attending, it was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with our alumni community in China.
This event, held jointly with the University of Reading and Henley Business School, also marked 20 years of collaboration with the Beijing Institute of Technology, who jointly run an accountancy course with Henley.
The alumni in attendance heard speeches from Professor Van de Noort, Associate Director, Office of International Affairs of BIT, Mao Yufeng, and the Regional Manager for East Asia, Vicky Li-Ong. Alumni were also shown a video with messages from the Chancellor, Paul Lindley OBE, the Pro-Vice Chancellor (International), Dr Caroline Baylon, and the Dean of Henley Business School, Professor Elena Spasova.
Professor Van de Noort said: “At the University of Reading we are proud of our global community of over 300,000 alumni in more than 150 countries. It was a great honour to visit Beijing recently and meet some of our global alumni community.
“It was wonderful to share the University of Reading’s achievements with our alumni community and to hear from our graduates, in person, what they have gone onto do and what they have achieved since leaving Reading.
“It warmed my heart to hear from many of these alumni that they are interested in returning to Reading to pursue further studies.
“We also celebrated 19 years of the University’s partnership with the Beijing Institute of Technology and looked forward to where our partnership will go in the future.”
After a toast to the partnership between the University of Reading, Henley Business School and the Beijing Institute of Technology, alumni were provided with food, drink and an opportunity for networking. Alumni also had the opportunity to enter their business cards into a hoodie prize draw. We had two lucky winners – Yanxing Chen and Jiacheng Fan – who are now proud owners of a University of Reading hoodie.
Vicky Li-Ong, Regional Manager for East Asia, said: “It was such a successful event with over 100 alumni turning up. Many of them came late due to their work commitments, but they still wanted to meet the Vice-Chancellor in person. Some travelled from Shanghai [a 2 hour flight] and at least five alumni came all the way from Shenzhen/Guangzhou [a 3 hour flight] to attend the reception.
“The atmosphere was fantastic – everyone seemed to enjoy the event and commented that we should hold Alumni Receptions more often.”
Beijing Alumni Group
During this event, we also relaunched the Beijing Alumni Group. The group has an active WeChat group and runs events. Vicky said: “I’m so pleased that many of the alumni I met at the event are eager to be part of the Beijing Alumni Group and reconnect with the University.”
Alumni who want to join the Beijing Alumni Group can scan this WeChat QR code:
The group is also looking for new committee members to help lead the group. If you are interested in a role, please email r.k.dean@reading.ac.uk.
If you are interested in supporting another Reading Alumni Group, in the UK or another country, please register your interest for more information.
