STORY: China's Tsinghua University, Croatia's ZSEM sign cooperation agreement
DATELINE: June 21, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:50
LOCATION: Zagreb
CATEGORY: EDUCATION

SHOTLIST:
1. various of students at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM)
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): MATE NJAVRO, Dean of Zagreb School of Economics and Management
3. various of the agreement signing ceremony
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): MATE NJAVRO, Dean of Zagreb School of Economics and Management
5. various of the ZSEM students in the class
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): BAI CHONGEN, Dean of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management

STORYLINE:

The Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM) and Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM) on Tuesday signed a cooperation agreement in Zagreb, the Croatian capital.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): MATE NJAVRO, Dean of Zagreb School of Economics and Management
"This is a very important day for us because it is the culmination of all our efforts to build better bridges and relations between Croatia and China. And today's agreement enables students from Tsinghua University as well as from the Zagreb School of Economics and Management to take part in student exchange, that means starting from the next semester, our students will be able to spend the semester or a year in Beijing, studying at the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management and vice versa. So we expect a lot of Tsinghua University students to come to Croatia for the first time."

The ZSEM, established in 2002, has been a well-known business school in Croatia.

In 2013, it passed the accreditation of the International Association of Schools of Business (AACSB) and has established cooperative relations with more than 150 universities in 60 countries, including China.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): MATE NJAVRO, Dean of Zagreb School of Economics and Management
"Our students, Europeans, tend sometimes to be a little bit too Eurocentric. Most of our public education here is very much focused on Europe, understanding Europe, Europe's history, and maybe the U.S. What I think is needed at this moment is more China literacy. We need to get Europe to better understand China and how you do that in practice. This is a good step in that direction. You establish a student exchange so that our students from the Zagreb School of Economics and Management can spend a semester or a year in Tsinghua and vice versa. So I think this is a win-win situation."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): BAI CHONGEN, Dean of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management
"We believe that in the future, there can be a closer relationship between China and Croatia. One reason is that Croatia has been friendly to China. Also, Croatia is a very important gateway to the EU. It can help Chinese firms to start from Croatia and then develop into the EU market."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Zagreb.
(XHTV)