I’ve written here before about the woeful lack of statues of great academics in the UK. Whilst there are one or two around of the great scientists and of course this legendary auto-icon of the celebrated philosopher Jeremy Bentham which can be found at UCL there really are not that many to get excited about.
The position is a bit different in China as this picture of the University of Nottingham’s Vice-Chancellor with a statue of our Chancellor Emeritus, Professor Yang Fujia, a notable Physicist and former President of Fudan University as well as member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, shows.
There are many more such statues in this sculpture park though. Now over 100 of them in fact, all leading academics originally from Ningbo, the City which is the home of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC).
The city has gone out of its way therefore to recognise academic achievement. Now there is an even better new development in Ningbo. Adjoining the UNNC campus the city is developing a new ‘Academician Park’ which will be a wonderful environment for students and staff to enjoy and relax in.
With apologies for my dreadful photography
Universities often have a science park next door. But an Academician Park is a new one to me. This is outstanding. And we might even get a few more statues of academics in there. But what I would really like to see is something like this in the UK.
