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Kickoff of the A5 Student Challenge in Sanya, Hainan Island, China

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December 30, 2019

Wageningen University participates with students and staff in a shared Campus Design Competition on Hainan Island in the South of China. During the kickoff meeting on site from 17th till 21st December 2019, students from 6 different Universities formed teams and started the design work.

Student Challenge: Shared Campus Design

The theme of the programme is to work out a conceptual plan for the construction of a University Park in Hainan Island in South China. The University park will be shared by five top tier Chinese universities with their branch campuses. It includes China Agricultural University, Ocean University of China, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Wuhan University of Technology.

The five universities will share common education facilities, such as a library, classroom buildings, dining hall, sport fields and a concert hall. Planned as a future leading education organization in China’s Free Trade Zone, the university park is expected to be multi-cultural.

The campus design needs to take advantage of the tropical climate for campus greening and should integrate eco-friendly concepts.

A5 network and mixed teams

This Student Challenge is an initiative of the A5 network; a network of five top-ranked Academic Institutions in the domain of agriculture, food and sustainability. The A5 founding members - China Agricultural University, Cornell University, University of California Davis, University of Sao Paulo, and Wageningen University & Research - are recognized globally for their scientific knowledge, research expertise, teaching and training in sustainable agriculture and food systems.

In the Student Challenge there are 60 participating students from Wageningen University, China Agricultural University, Cornell University, University of California, Davis, University of Sao Paula and Hainan University. They form 10 mixed teams with members of each of the universities, mentored by a supervisor of one of the A5 network universities.

Competition Schedule

After the kickoff meeting in December the ten student teams start their design work virtually. In March they will submit their Midterm report.

At the end of June, 2020, the teams will gather again in Hainan Island for the Final Competition!