On September 17, 2014, the Opening Ceremony for APFNet Scholarship Program (ASP) in Nanjing Forestry University was held, where 9 students awarded with APFNet Scholarship Program (batch 2014) were welcomed to start their 2-year studies in the historical city.

The ceremony was chaired by Mr. ZHU Jiangang, Dean of International Education School, and joined by NFU staff, APFNet representatives and international students hosted by the University.

Professor CAO Fuliang, NFU President (also the supervisor for one of the ASP student), addressed the ceremony, introducing the long history and faculty advantage of NFU international student program since 1960s. He advised the students to adapt to the new environment soon and experience different culture. He promised abundant provision of high quality program courses and rich resources to benefit students.

Ms. LI Shuxin, Assistant Executive Director of APFNet welcomed students as a NFU alumnus. She introduced APFNet capacity building programs, ASP in particular, to contribute to the talent cultivation for the Asia Pacific forest management. She highly appraised cooperation with NFU and hoped all the students could cherish the opportunities and make full use of the 2 years to come.  

The 9 awardees coming from the forestry authorities and institutes of Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Lao, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and Pakistan, are the first batch ASP awardees hosted by Nanjing Forestry University, where they would pursue the postgraduate study in core forestry related disciplines, including Forestry, and Environmental Science. They will start with full course schedule and quite number of extra-curriculum to acquire more professional knowledge and hopefully open a new gate for their personal development.