Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) President Yang Oh-bong attended the 80th anniversary ceremony of Jilin University in China from the 15th to the 17th and met with President Zhang Xi (張希) and university presidents from around the world to broadly discuss ways to expand international exchange and cooperation.

Jilin University is directly under the Ministry of Education of China, with approximately 75,000 enrolled students and about 6,000 full-time faculty. It is one of China’s representative comprehensive universities. The university has strengths in science and engineering fields such as chemistry, physics, biology, and materials science, and is one of JBNU’s major friendly partner universities in China.

JBNU and Jilin University have steadily cooperated in academic and personnel exchanges since signing a comprehensive exchange agreement and a detailed exchange agreement including personnel exchanges in November 2008. In particular, at the Korea–China University Presidents' Forum held online by JBNU in December 2022, Jilin University served as the Chinese coordinating university and jointly led discussions on cooperation between universities of the two countries.

During this visit, President Yang held talks with President Zhang Xi to congratulate Jilin University on its 80th anniversary and conveyed his congratulations and encouragement to university members who worked to prepare the event.

The two presidents agreed to broaden Collaborative Research and exchanges across various academic fields including chemistry, and to further activate student and faculty exchanges to achieve practical outcomes together. Both presidents, as researchers who majored in chemistry, agreed to expand the scope of interuniversity cooperation based on their academic rapport.

President Yang presented Jilin University with a commemorative plaque and gifts celebrating its 80th anniversary as a gesture of friendly exchange between the two universities. He then invited President Zhang Xi to JBNU’s 80th anniversary ceremony to be held next October, and President Zhang Xi responded by expressing his intention to visit JBNU.

President Yang Oh-bong said, "Jilin University is a valued partner that has engaged in exchanges with JBNU for a long time based on trust. I will use this meeting as an opportunity for the two universities to cooperate more closely across research, education, and personnel exchanges, and to work together to enhance our internationalization capabilities."