SMU is doubling its tie-ups with universities in China, beefing up its presence there to make up for an overemphasis on links with European and American schools. A delegation led by SMU president Arnoud De Meyer is in China to ink 13 agreements with five universities – namely Fudan University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and Sichuan University – in areas such as student exchanges and joint research.  These pacts include the setting up of a joint research centre on development studies by SMU and Fudan University in Shanghai. "For SMU, this is a big step forward," said Professor De Meyer, noting that this is the first time the university is setting up a research centre with a Chinese counterpart. Some 84 per cent of the cohort graduating this July would have spent time abroad, noted Prof De Meyer. The aim is to get this up to 100 per cent eventually, he added. The greater cooperation with Chinese universities would also allow SMU faculty to do more research on China and get more Chinese students to come to SMU, said Prof De Meyer. SMU is also in talks with the Sichuan Administration Institute, a Communist Party school in Chengdu, south-west China to bring SMU faculty to the school to teach short-term courses on topics like private-public partnerships to mid-level officials, said SMU Vice President (Business Development & External Relations) Annie Koh.