On November 1, 2019, at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, Rector Eugenio Gaudio received an Honorary Doctoral Degree from the Government of the People’s Republic of China with the following motivation: “The Government of the People’s Republic of China is honoured to recognize and certify the important role that you played in promoting international cooperation at the highest academic level between China and Italy.”

“Receiving this honour makes me proud of the university that I have the privilege to direct since 2014,” declared Rector Gaudio. “The international dimension that has characterized my term and the reinforcement of our relations with China is one of the fundamental points of my action. As pointed out by President Xi Jinping, in his recent visit to Italy, one of the reasons that our countries are similar is that they both look to the future, but are fortunate to have a glorious past and both present lifestyles that integrate the ancient and the modern, the classic and innovation.”

The presentation of this honorary degree is witness to the prestige that Sapienza University enjoys in China and crowns the success that our university has achieved in terms of cooperation between the two countries. This exchange of knowledge has consolidated thanks to the increasing mobility of professors and students. In just ten years, Sapienza has welcomed more than 2200 Chinese students to a range of different degree programmes.

Moreover, last year, as part of the Italian membership in the New Silk Road Project, the  Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan inaugurated the new Italo-Chinese Institute, directed by Oliviero Diliberto, Professor of Roman Law and Dean of the Sapienza Faculty of Law. In September, the Institute kicked off its first Masters Degree Programme in European Studies, Private Comparative Law in China. The programme, which will provide students with a Sapienza degree, currently has 26 students.

The Doctoral Degree is reserved for internationally recognised personalities that promote the global dimension of cooperation of China and with China.

Personalities that have received this title in the past include: Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust (President of the University of Harvard); Leszek Borysiewicz (President of the University of Cambridge); Colin Lucas (President of the University of Oxford); Richard C. Levin (President of the University of Yale); Susan Hockfield (President of MIT); Kofi Atta Annan (Secretary General, United Nations); Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Secretary General, United Nations); Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (Chancellor, Germany); Juan Antonio Samaranch (President of the International Olympic Committee).