The Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research (SDC) is a joint project between the eight Danish universities and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS). The collaboration is the largest Danish venture within education and research outside of Denmark.

Aarhus University accounts for one of a total of seven Master's degree programmes and the programme is in neuroscience and neuroimaging.

Neuroscience and neuroimaging

Neuroscience is the study of how the brain functions in which researchers combine several different health science disciplines. This work is of great importance for the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of neurological diseases that can wreck the lives of people suffering from the diseases.

Neuroimaging is the study of the functioning of the tools that scientists use to find out how the brain works such as scanners and computer software.

The Master's degree programme in Neuroscience and Neuroimaging combines technical, natural science and health science research fields. 

Translated by Peter Lambourne

Beer is not really the Chinese cup of tea

Jan Ole Pedersen took a Bachelor in Nanotechnology from Aalborg University with him when he left Denmark for Beijing in 2012. His goal was to work with applied physics – and he succeeded with a PhD position at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).

"You must be prepared to accept that it can take a very, very long time before you see the results of your research in the field of nanotechnology, and I thought that basic research was demotivating. I would rather work with applied physics, so when I heard about neuroscience, I jumped at the chance," says Pedersen. 

However, it was not a desire to travel that made him pack his bags and head off to study with the Chinese.

"In my case it was first and foremost the degree programme. It wasn’t important whether it was in Copenhagen, Aarhus or Beijing."

Imagined he might feel a bit lonely

Jan Ole Pedersen describes his time settling in China as surprisingly positive.

"I have travelled around Asia before. I guess I imagined that it would be disconcerting and that I would end up somewhere where they didn’t manage things very well and that I would maybe also feel a bit lonely."

But he quickly made friends among the other foreign students.

"We probably fell into some certain types who had a need for a social network. On the other hand, in my class we were not that good at socialising with the Chinese. As Danes we have a tradition of going out to drink a beer," says Pedersen, at the same time letting us understand that drinking beer wasn’t exactly the Chinese students’ cup of tea.

"They would rather see a film or go for a walk in the park."

Focus on acquiring academic skills 

He also settled in quickly academically.

"I was used to Aalborg University, which is for me the epitome of group work, so I liked the one-way communication and going to lectures where the focus is on acquiring some knowledge."

In Pedersen’s own words he was not very good at applying for jobs while on the other side of the world, so he first began with it after returning to Denmark in July 2014. He applied primarily for PhD fellowships, as he wanted to pursue a research career.

PhD at DTU

He had been to interviews for three positions, one in the Netherlands and two in Denmark, when he accepted one of the two positions in Denmark. 

As a PhD student at DTU, he will test a calculation model that will allow doctors to make a diagnosis based on images taken in a scanner even if the patient does not remain still in the scanner, which can often cause the image to end up being of something other than the planned.

When asked why he was the one offered the position, Pedersen replies:

"They must have thought that the knowledge I had acquired within neuroscience was worth continuing to work on. It has also probably been a positive thing that with my background I was already familiar with the field."

I had promised myself that I wouldn’t be part of the first class again...

Karsten Mølgaard Jensen spent six months as an undergraduate student in the USA. He didn’t doubt that he would travel abroad again as a Master’s degree student – and preferably for longer.

In addition to his Master's degree in neuroscience and neuroimaging, Karsten Mølgaard Jensen has a Bachelor's degree in healthcare technology, which is a combination of healthcare knowledge, IT and electronics, together with communication across professional boundaries.

"As part of my Bachelor of Engineering studies I spent six months studying in the USA. I wanted to study abroad again and had planned to take a Master’s in biomedical technology, with a third semester elective subject taken abroad. If it were possible, I also wanted to write my Master's thesis abroad and thus be away for a whole year," says Karsten Mølgaard Jensen. 

Experience of a large country

While thinking about how he should plan his studies abroad, he became aware of the two-year Master’s degree programme at SDC in Beijing.

"I ended up choosing it because everything was organised, even though, as opposed to biomedical technology, it only focused on the nervous system," says Jensen, who also took the decision because studying in China gave him the opportunity to experience a country that plays a major role globally.

But he did have some concerns when he left for the Middle Kingdom.

No internet in the classrooms

He had been part of the initial class during his Bachelor of Engineering programme and had promised himself that he wouldn’t do that again because of the difficulties which often arise from being the first to take a degree programme.

"Things were not made easier by the fact that we were in China. We sat for example in some old classrooms where there wasn’t any internet," explains Jensen. However, he has never regretted taking the plunge.

Since August he has worked as an IT-specialist at the Department of Heart disease at Aarhus University Hospital, where he primarily has responsibility for the department's medical imaging systems in which images from ultrasound units, CT scanners and C-arms are processed. 

The Sino-Danish Center is housed at a campus 60 km north of Beijing.

The plan is for the students at the Sino-Danish Center to move into a brand new building at the end of the year. The Danish Industry Foundation’s House, as the building will be called, is situated at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), 60 km north of Beijing.

The Danish Industry Foundation has donated DKK 110 million towards the new building.

Source: Sino-Danish Center

Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research (SDC)                                      

SDC offers seven Master’s degree programmes in English within the natural sciences and social sciences.

During the past four years, SDC has provided financial support for almost 70 PhD programmes. The PhD students are affiliated with one of the eight Danish universities and spend at least six months in China.

Source: Sino-Danish Center and the Ministry of Higher Education and Science

Master's degree programme in China?

You can learn more about all seven of the Master's degree programmes that are offered under the auspices of the SDC at sinodanishcenter.com.

Approximately 100 Danish and 150 Chinese students were affiliated with the Sino-Danish Center at the end of 2014.

As the target is 300 Master’s degree students, with half from each country, the Chinese students meet the quota, while the Danes are having a little difficulty. 

The natural science students are negatively affecting the statistics when it comes to packing-up and travelling to China.

Deputy Director Morten Laugesen from SDC has the following possible explanation for this: 

"Natural science students don’t have the same tradition as other students for taking part of their education abroad. And when they do travel abroad they typically look towards the west. So we need to see a change of behaviour. That is something we are currently working on, for example by telling the students in general, and the natural science students in particular, about the new, exciting opportunities when we meet them at education fairs, in the media and at information meetings." 

* Admissions are adjusted for students who were admitted to the degree programme but who never began it

** The degree programmes were established in 2013

The individual degree programmes admit up to 15 Danish and 15 Chinese students annually.

Source: Sino-Danish Center