TheInternational College of Pharmaceutical Innovation (ICPI)is aSino-foreign cooperative joint educational instituteestablished by Soochow University (SU) and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland(RCSI) University of Medicine and Health Sciences. It is located at the Future campus of Soochow University in Wujiang District. It will combine the educational and research pedigree and expertise of the SU and RCSI to deliver high-quality, international higher education, aiming to graduate undergraduate and masters-level students to meet the needs of China's healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.

The ICPI plans to offer two 4-year undergraduate programs in Pharmacy and Biopharmaceutical Sciences and a 3-year master's programme in Pharmacy. Upon completing their studies, students will be awarded degrees from both SU and RCSI.

	Major & Degree	Length of Study	Student intake
Undergraduate Programmes	SUDA: Bachelor of Science, Pharmacy RCSI: Bachelor of Science, Pharmacy	4+0	120
	SUDA: Bachelor of Engineering, Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences RCSI: Bachelor of Science, Advanced Therapeutic Technologies	4+0	120
Master Programme	SUDA: Master of Medicine, Pharmacy RCSI: Master of Science by Research	3+0	20

Collaboration between SU and RCSI

The intercollegiate exchanges and cooperation between SU and RCSI can be traced back more than a decade ago, when Professor Xuechu Zhen, former Dean of the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences at SU, initiated a research collaboration with John Waddington, Professor and Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy at RCSI. In 2012, Professor Waddington was appointed as a Chair Professor at the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Soochow University, initiating bilateral exchanges. In 2015, the two schools signed a memorandum of cooperation, formally starting a stable and long-term partnership. In 2016, both parties successfully applied for the European Union Erasmus+ Program, promoting over 50 teacher exchanges between the two institutions.

SU promotes in-depth exchanges with RCSI by holding bilateral and multilateral international academic conferences, leading to the collaborative publication of over 40 high-quality papers and joint talent training. Since 2015, SU and RCSI have sent students to each other's institutions yearly for a summer exchange program. The two parties signed the Joint Undergraduate Training Agreement in 2018 and a Joint PhD Programme Agreement in 2020. These joint training programs have further promoted scientific research cooperation and academic exchanges between the two sides, facilitated the establishment of the International College of Pharmaceutical Innovation, and achieved sustainable development in discipline construction and talent cultivation.