The first cohort of students at Lancaster University College at Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) have graduated.

The University College, based in Weihai, China, is a partnership between Lancaster University and Beijing Jiaotong University, and the pioneer students received their degree certificates on Friday.

The Covid-19 pandemic means a full graduation ceremony has been postponed until next year, but students returned to campus to have their degrees conferred upon them.

Professor David Higgitt, Academic Dean, said: “As the campus was unable to reopen after Chinese New Year, Lancaster faculty reacted quickly to convert modules for online delivery. The students have displayed remarkable resilience to complete their studies remotely.”

Lancaster University Vice-Chancellor Professor Andy Schofield said: “Lancaster was one of the first universities to establish relationships with China back in the 1970s, so this is a special moment and milestone for both Lancaster University and Beijing Jiaotong University. We have successfully combined our academic expertise to create something special and I have no doubt that it will go from strength to strength.”

Professor Schofield congratulated the students and said: “We celebrate each of your achievements in proving you have the resilience, as well as the intelligence, to rise to a challenge and to beat it.”

Earlier this year, local government officials from Weihai sent 10,000 medical masks as a gift to the City of Lancaster to show their support for the fight against Covid-19.

Each box of masks carried a quote by William Shakespeare: “He that is thy friend indeed, he will help those in the need”, along with a letter from Zhang Haibo, Head of CPC Weihai Municipal Committee and Yan Jianbo, the Mayor of Weihai Municipal Government.

The University College, based in Shandong Province, was formally opened in 2016 and admitted students on four undergraduate programmes: Computer Science; Electronics and Communications Engineering; Environmental Science and Engineering and Design Interactions. Programmes in Accounting & Finance and in Business Studies were added in 2017.

In additional to the dual award, students are able to participate in reciprocal summer schools, study abroad and the Lancaster Alumni Scholarship scheme.