University of Bergen was one of the founding members of the Nordic Centre upon the initiative of professor Stein Kuhnle. The Nordic Centre has (in 2010) 25 Nordic member universities.

The Nordic Centre in China, located at the Fudan University in Shanghai, is a consortium of (in 2010) 25 Nordic member universities including most of the major universities and business schools in the Nordic region as well as one research institute as associate member.

Since the opening in 1995, the Nordic Centre has helped to establish links between a large number of Chinese and Nordic researchers and academic institutions. These links have resulted in a wide range of activities including teaching, student and teacher exchange, research collaboration, conferences and seminars. Researchers and departments at Fudan University have been the main partners in these activities, which is a result of the Centre basically being cooperation between Fudan University and the Nordic member institutions.

University of Bergen was a founding member of the Nordic Centre and academics and students from Bergen have been active participants in Nordic Centre activities from the inception of the Centre. Academic staff from University of Bergen have been teaching courses and programmes in Contemporary China and Chinese Politics, Global Studies etc at the Centre attended by both Chinese and Nordic undergraduate and master students.

The Centre’s main function from the start has been to facilitate and assist with projects initiated by Nordic scholars/institutions and their Chinese partners. This way of working has been one of the Centre’s major strengths since it has enabled the Centre to assure that there is an actual interest in all the activities that it hosts.

In 2010 the Nordic Centre moved into a brand new Nordic Centre Building at the Fudan University. The new building hosts the Foreign Affairs Office and offers excellent facilities for teaching, visits, meetings and seminars, office space and more.

The Nordic Centre in China at Fudan University