Professor Kelvin Everest: ‘Very early on, our main focus was just on making it work’
18 May 2026
Originally published on the University of Liverpool’s website as part of its 20 Stories series for XJTLU’s 20th anniversary.
Professor Kelvin Everest was Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool from 2001 to 2015 and played an important role in the establishment of XJTLU.
How it started
I was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education when the idea for XJTLU was developed and realised. It was my job to guarantee academic integrity, bringing the Western half of the East-West conception.
Growing ambitions
Very early on, our main focus was just on making it work. It was only after Professor Youmin Xi became president that a properly articulated vision for how the University was going to operate started to emerge. I’m staggered at how fast it has grown and become so large – already bigger than the University of Liverpool in less than 20 years. I don’t think any of us dreamt it would be as successful as it’s turned out to be.
A recipe for successful partnership
The key ingredients to a successful partnership, I would say are: mutual respect, tolerance of each other’s backgrounds, dialogue, and not trying to over control or under control. The Chinese colleagues we worked with - at every level - couldn’t have been more cooperative and constructive. They embraced the project from the start, and through their belief in it, really helped us to make it work.
18 May 2026
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