Many tutors say that living in Ningbo is quite challenging for them and it takes a long time to get used to it. Is it also a problem for you? And how about living and working here?
很多老师都说在宁波生活对他们来说是一个很大的挑战，他们需要很长一段时间才能适应。对于您来说也是这样吗？在这里工作和生活感觉怎么样？
It’s OK for me because I have been in Ningbo since the early August, and I have experienced the hot summer here. I believe if I can survive the August in Ningbo, I can survive everything. You know I have come to China many times, and people always fight for weather changes every season; but it’s lucky that I can experience these changes. For me, I really like to see the falling leaves, the snow and so on, which remind me the change of time.
我觉得还好，因为我在八月初的时候就来到了宁波，并且在这里度过了一个十分炎热的夏天。我想如果能从宁波炎热的八月里存活下来，我就能克服所有艰苦的环境了。我来过中国很多次，人们总是在与每个季度的气候变化做斗争，但是我反而觉得可以经历这些变化是很幸运的。我特别喜欢观赏秋天的落叶美景，冬天的雪季和其他美丽的四季景色，因为这些都能提醒我时间的变化和流逝。
And how is working in Ningbo going?
那工作怎么样呢？
Working is a different thing. When I was the Pro-Vice-Chancellor in UK campus for 8 years, I was responsible for only one area, about business and enterprises. But in UNNC, I am the Provost here, in another word is like the headmaster in high school. I have to be responsible for all things in different aspects. I will shoulder more responsibilities; however, I like challenges and being busy. And the most important objective of my work is to make sure we can deliver the best education our students’ experience.
工作是一件仁者见仁，智者见智的事情。我在英国校区担任了八年的副校长，只需要负责对外的商业和企业交流部分。但是在UNNC，我成为了这里的执行校长，换句话来说，就像高中的校长一样，必须承担和管理各个方面的责任和事务，肩负着更多的义务。然而，我喜欢挑战和忙碌。我认为我的工作赋予我最重要的任务是保证可以为我们的学生提供最优质的教育，在他们的人生经历中留下最宝贵的记忆。
Impressions of UNNC
Could you talk about the feelings when you know that you will become the provost in UNNC?
可以谈一下当您得知自己将成为UNNC执行校长时的感受吗？
Actually I feel a little relieved! If someone else took the job, I might be hurt and angry ;-)
事实上有一点如释重负的感觉！说实话，如果让其他人来接手这个工作，我可能还会觉得有点伤心和不悦呢，哈哈。
Why is that? Did you have plans of coming to work in UNNC before?
为什么呢？您之前就做好了来UNNC工作的计划吗？
Secretly. You know I have come to China many times in almost 10 years, and I saw UNNC grow from nothing to something really special. The idea that I should go to UNNC grew and grew, and I knew I had to do this sometime in my career.
那是一个秘密。我也说过自己在过去的十年间来过很多次中国，亲眼见证了UNNC从稚嫩成长到今天的成熟和别具一格。所以要到UNNC工作的想法在我的脑海里不断地出现和壮大，我知道UNNC是一定会在我的职业生涯中出现的。
That is quite a relationship! So what is your first impression of UNNC?
您和UNNC的缘分实在是太深了！那么您对UNNC的第一印象如何呢？
That was an interesting story when I first came to UNNC in 2007. I arrived at 1 a.m. in the darkness and don’t ask me why, but I brought my roller skates with me. I just came from UK, and I woke up at 5 a.m. It was so quiet so I planned to go skating on campus. That was the first time I saw UNNC in daylight. I could not believe how can Nottingham build such a magnificent and ambitious place! Although the university did not have many students at that time, the whole campus just looked like Hollywood movie set. That left me a profound impression of UNNC which affects me to this day.
当我在2007年第一次来到UNNC的时候，还真是发生了有趣的故事。我在凌晨1点钟到了这里，别问我为什么，但我随身带着我的轮滑鞋来宁波。我刚从英国来，早晨五点钟就醒了。这个时候学校里非常安静，所以我决定在校园里玩一下轮滑。那是我第一次看到白昼里的校园，简直不能相信诺丁汉建造出了这样一个美丽壮观又雄心勃勃的地方。尽管那个时候学校并没有太多的学生，但整个校园看起来就像好莱坞电影布景一样奇妙。这次的经历让我对UNNC留下了深刻印象。
Well, to be honest, don’t you think UNNC is a small campus?
说实话，难道您不觉得UNNC的校园很小吗？
Small? I don’t think our campus is small. UNNC is even bigger than some famous universities like Princeton and Brown. Also, UNNC is small but special, because it's more like a community. If the campus grow as big as Zhejiang University, it’s very likely that we may lose this specialty. But we may expand some to improve the quality for more students.
小吗？我不觉得我们的校园很小，UNNC甚至要比像普林斯顿和布朗等一些知名大学要大很多。更重要的是，UNNC虽然面积小但是非常特别，就像一个社区一样。如果我们把学校扩张到像浙江大学一样大，我们很可能就失去了这样的独特性。但为了能给学生提供更好的教学环境和教学质量，我们也会进行一些适当的扩展。
Differences between UNNC and UNUK
Many people claim that Chinese students can do well in exams but are not active in class. How do you think about it?
很多人认为中国学生可以在考试中取得好的成绩，但是在课堂上并不活跃，您是怎么看的呢？
I think it’s only half true. Although I taught only few classes in UNNC so far this year, I found Chinese students didn’t ask many questions in the class; however, they always ask me tons of questions after the class. And I believe, with more experience in UNNC, there will be more students asking questions in the class.
我认为这个说法并不完全正确。尽管我到目前为止在UNNC只教了很少的课程，但我发现中国学生也很喜欢问问题。虽然他们一般不会在课堂上提出来，但在课下总是能有很多学生来向我提出一大堆的问题。我相信，在UNNC积累更多学习经历之后，一定会有更多的学生敢于在课堂上提出问题。
Do you think there are huge differences between UNNC and UNUK?
您认为UNNC和UNUK之间有很大的不同吗？
We make sure that the academic quality is the same but we cannot ignore the diversity problem. In UNUK, there are international students from about 117 countries and 70% are from European countries. But here in Ningbo, 90% of the students are from Mainland China. That’s good because we got many hard-working students. But since naturally the main language is still Chinese, students cannot improve their English language skills completely. Also, many international students may feel hard to build network with local students. We want to improve the situation over time, maybe by increasing the proportion of international students. Now we have an international president of Students’ Union, which is a very good start for better integration. Additionally, since international students want to know more about Chinese language and culture, while Chinese parents may want their children to get involved in the international environment, we may one day try to arrange Chinese students and international students living together, just as they do in UNUK. The important first step is to start those conversations.
我们可以保证两者的教学质量是相同的，但是文化多样性的问题确实是无法忽略的。在UNUK，我们有来自大约117个国家和地区的学生，而且70%都来自欧洲。但是在宁波，90%的学生都来自内地。这一点从好的方面来说，我们收获了很多勤奋刻苦的学生；但是因为学校里的主要语言还是中文，所以学生们不能完全地提高他们的英语水平。而且很多国际生会觉得和本地的学生建立起友谊和人际关系十分困难。我相信我们可以逐渐地改善这个情况，比如通过提高国际生的比例等举措。现在学生会的主席就是一位国际生，这是一个促进文化融合交流的重要开始。因为国际生们希望能够了解汉语和中国的文化，而且中国学生的父母也希望他们的孩子能够融入到国际化的环境当中，我们可能会商量在将来安排中国学生和国际生生活在一起，就像UNUK一样。当然，最重要的第一步就是要创造机会让他们之间开始交流和融合。
Annoying Notting-ducks
Some students are very concerned about the Notthing-ducks, which are really annoying sometimes; do you think there should be any measures to manage them?
很多同学觉得校园里的诺丁鸭已经开始成为一个麻烦，因为它们已经开始打扰到学生们正常的生活了。您认为需要采取什么方法来解决这个问题吗？
The Notting-ducks (I think that these are really a species of Canada Goose BTW) are really disturbing sometimes. I remember there was a weekend, when I came home at night; there are many geese around my house front door. I had to use the back door to get in. We have similar challenges in the UK and have to use sensible measures to control their access to the campus. We have similar plans here which should allow geese and students to co-exist harmoniously!
诺丁鸭（我认为他们是加拿大雁的一种）有时候真的很扰民。我记得有一个周末，当我晚上到家的时候，一大群诺丁鸭就聚集在我家的前门附近，最后我不得不从后门回家了。在英国其实我们也遇到了这样的问题，于是不得不使用合理的方法限制它们进入校园。在UNNC我们也会有类似的计划，希望诺丁鸭能和学生们和谐相处。
Resource Allocation Inequality within Departments
Some students think the expenses on engineering & architecture students seem to exceed that on business & economics students. Is it fair for them to spend the same amount of tuition? And why can’t business students have access to the computers with higher quality in SEB?
一些同学认为学校在工科学生身上的花费好像远远超过了其他学科，但大家都花费了同样多的学费来到这里，这样是不是不太公平呢？而且为什么其他学科的学生不能使用SEB的更高配置的电脑呢？
Well, the expenses on engineering & architecture students seem to be higher because they can use the high-tech experiment labs. But for business students, almost all business professors are in the real business world and to teach you how to make money and we need to attract top class talent from international business, banking etc. Also the students in social science should be accessing mentorship and entrepreneurship programmes etc to make sure that they get the full value from their UNNC experience. We’re also looking at user policies campus wide so that ALL students can use IT facilities in any building, subject to common sense usage.
其实工科院系的开销更多来自他们需要的高科技实验室。但是对于商学院学生，几乎所有的商学院教授都来自真实的商界，他们会教你怎么赚钱。我们需要更多的花费来吸引来自国际商务、银行等等的顶尖人才到学校进行授课。社会科学的学生也可以更多地去参加学校的导师计划和创业计划等,充分地利用学校资源。同时，我们也在努力让所有的学生都能在任意的教学楼使用电脑进行非专业特定要求的操作。
END
Professor Chris Rudd said that UNNC is a unique and exciting place. It is a wonderful opportunity to work with some inspiring people at an extraordinary time and continue to make history here. We are extremely looking forward Professor Rudd to lead our UNNC to a better future.
陆明彦教授说UNNC是一个独特而且令人兴奋的地方。对他来说现在在UNNC工作是一个绝好的机会，因为UNNC已经经历了10年的蓬勃发展，而且这里的人们都极富感染力，能激励着他继续创造更多的辉煌。我们非常期待在陆明彦教授的带领下，UNNC走向一个更好的未来！