The affiliated school of Suzhou-based Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in Taicang starts construction on April 29. [Photo/WeChat account: tcfbgw]

The affiliated school of Suzhou-based Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in Taicang, a county-level city in Suzhou, Jiangsu province started construction on April 29.

Covering an area of 546 mu (36.4 hectares), the affiliated school will have a kindergarten, a primary school, a junior high school and a senior high school, offering high-end basic education to Taicang residents and residents from surrounding areas.

In addition, XJTLU will also set up a think tank on basic education, an innovative talent research center, and a practice base for out-of-school education in Taicang and train more teachers for basic education.

Li Yaping, mayor of Suzhou, said at the groundbreaking ceremony that renowned institutions of higher education offer abundant talent resources and empower high sci-tech innovation ability to Suzhou.

Li hopes that Taicang and XJTLU will work together to construct the Taicang campus into a hub of talent cultivation and sci-tech innovation in order to contribute to the high quality development of Suzhou.

XJTLU's executive principal Xi Youmin revealed that the affiliated school will try out the construction of a future university campus and the cultivation of integrated talents.

Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University is an international joint venture university founded by Xi'an Jiaotong University in China and the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom in 2006.

As an independent Sino-foreign cooperative university, it captures the essence of both prestigious parent universities and is the first and only one of its kind approved by the Ministry of Education in China.

Over time, XJTLU has won wide recognition for its highly internationalised environment, advanced educational concepts and high-quality talent development.

Landscape view of the affiliated school of Suzhou-based Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. [Photo/WeChat account: tcfbgw]