CUC Delegation Meets Vrije Universiteit Brussel

On June 19, 2026, a Communication University of China (中国传媒大学) delegation led by deputy Party secretary Zheng Peng (郑鹏) met with Vrije Universiteit Brussel (布鲁塞尔自由大学), or VUB, the Dutch-speaking of Brussels’s two public universities, to discuss expanding academic ties. The delegation met with Karin Vanderkerken, VUB’s vice-rector for internationalization and a professor of biomedical sciences who previously oversaw the university’s research infrastructure as vice-rector for research from 2016 to 2022. According to a press release from Communication University of China, the two sides discussed launching a joint doctoral program, folding a Belgian culture week into student exchanges, and arranging short-term visiting scholar placements between the schools. CUC’s international office director, Wang Wenyuan (王文渊), also attended, along with CUC staff currently posted at VUB and an official from the education office of the Chinese embassy in Belgium, which oversees Chinese students studying in the country. CUC also runs its own Institute for a Community with Shared Future (人类命运共同体研究院), a think tank that a CMP report on China’s external propaganda architecture in 2025 identified as one arm of a coordinated national effort to embed Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s foreign policy concepts into international scholarship, operating more than 20 overseas research centers in partnership with universities and state media abroad.