Kina - Logistics challenges in China

China's economy is growing very fast. A major need in this growth, particularly since the economy is so export oriented, is knowledge about logistics. The competence in Chinese universities in logistics is very limited. Molde University College, which off ers education in transportation and logistics all the way up to PhD level, has established a close cooperation with The University of Science and Technology of Suzhou (USTS). So far the cooperation has resulted in a joint MSc program in logistics, where i n 2005 some students will start their studies in Suzhou, some in Molde. They will then all spend two semesters in Molde, before doing their theses, some in Molde, some in Suzhou. Several junior faculty members from Suzhou presently study logistics in Mold e, and the goal of the cooperation is to make it possible for USTS to start its own logistics programs. As part of this institutional building and cooperation, we also wish to initiate joint research between faculty in Molde and junior faculty in Suzhou. Three activities are suggested for initiating this cooperation. The first is the recruitment of a Quota Program financed PhD students from Suzhou, the second to follow up the work done in Molde by Pingping Qiu after her return to Suzhou this summer. Both these activities imply sending a senior faculty member from Molde to Suzhou. The third activity is to use the two visits to Suzhou to learn to know more faculty members from Suzhou, and then invite them to a working seminar in Molde. What Molde gets out o f this is the chance to obtain some very good research colleagues, and through research understand much more about logistics in China, a subject very important also for Norwegian companies establishing themselves there. We are already in close cooperation with three such companies, and three Molde students write their master's theses in Norwegian companies in Suzhou this academic year.