The first cooperative university between China and Russia officially opened its doors to students on Wednesday in a sign of enhanced educational cooperation between the two countries.

The opening ceremony of Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, jointly run by Lomonosov Moscow State University, or MSU, and the Beijing Institute of Technology, or BIT, was held in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

"China and Russia jointly setting up Shenzhen MSUBIT University is an important consensus between me and (Russian) President Vladimir Putin," President Xi Jinping said in his congratulatory letter, read by Vice-Premier Liu Yandong.