On November 23, Dolores O'Riordan, Vice-President of International Affairs of University College Dublin in Ireland(UCD), Paul Fanning, Provost of UCD in China, and Aifric O'Sullivan, Deputy Minister of International Affairs of the Faculty of Health and Agricultural Sciences, visited South China Agricultural University. President Xue Hongwei of SCAU met with the guests.

Xue Hongwei introduced SCAU and reviewed the history of cooperation between the two sides. He said that SCAU attaches great importance to its partnership with UCD, and hopes that the two parties will continue to enrich their cooperation.

Dolores O'Riordan introduced the education situation and internationalization strategy of UCD. She said that Ireland's educational philosophy is highly consistent with China's policies of education opening to the outside world, and she hopes to continue to deepen exchanges with SCAU,contributing to the China-Ireland relations.

The two parties had in-depth discussions and reached consensus on promoting the high-quality development of cooperative education, cultivating high-level talents, and expanding cooperation in teaching, scientific research, academic exchanges and other related fields.

During the visit,the guests visited  Guangzhou Dublin International College of Life Sciences and Technology (GDIC), a Sino-foreign cooperative education institution jointly organized by both, and held discussions with teachers and students of the college, and visited SCAU History Museum.

UCD is a public research university located in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1854 and is a member of the World University Alliance, Universitas 21, the Global University Alliance for Advanced Research and the European University Association. The university has more than 38,000 students, including nearly 11,000 international students. There are 6 university departments with 38 colleges, ranking 171st in the 2024 QS rankings. In 2020, the Sino-foreign cooperative education institution  Guangzhou Dublin International College of Life Sciences and Technology  jointly organized by SCAU and UCD was approved by the Ministry of Education, China. There are currently 700 students enrolled.