The visit followed the signing, in October 2011, of a Memorandum of Understanding by the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, and the Mayor of Beijing Dai Jun Liang.

The main purpose of the delegation was to discuss the provision of work placements with BAQTS for up to ten graduates of the MSc Management (International Standards) and CPD training education created as part of the CESI China Europe Standards Institute project, included in the initial memorandum.  The MSc has recruited ten students to date.

Since the signing of the memorandum, Swansea University’s Department of Research and Innovation has developed over 30 training programmes the first of which:’ Leadership, Standards and Management’ was successfully delivered to ten owners of SMEs in China.

In 2012, the training programme ‘Low Carbon Construction Standards’ was delivered to ten architects from Beijing.  In addition, a leadership and standards summer camp was held in Swansea in 2011 and in Manchester in 2012.

The visit was also an opportunity for Mme Yu Hong, Chief Engineer of the Beijing Bureau and part of the delegation, to exchange information with British Trading Standards and David Picken, Head of Trading Standards gave a presentation about the structure and operation process of British Trading Standards.

Swansea University is in the process of becoming one of the overseas training centres of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs for the People’s Republic of China.  The visit included a proposal by the University to offer free training to 200 staff in Beijing between 2014 and 2019.  If there is support for this proposal, it will be recorded in a Memorandum of Understanding between Swansea University and BAQTS. 

 The full list of delegates from Beijing were:

Mr Dai Junliang, Vice Mayor of Beijing
Mr Liu Zhengang, Director General of the Legal Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality
Mr Zhang Haizhou, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality
Mme Yu Hong, Chief Engineer of Beijing Municipal Administration of Quality and Technology Inspection
Mr Dong Rulei, Deputy Division Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality
 Mr Yao Hejun, Director of Beijing Institute of Metrology
Mr Li Jinsi, Division Chief of Beijing Institute of Metrology
Mme. Huang Yan, Division Chief of Beijing Institute of Metrology