The Ningbo Campus features the university's renowned Trent tower

The campus, in Ningbo in Eastern China, is a part-replica of the Nottingham site and even includes the famous Trent tower in its skyline.

The site will offer degree courses and facilities for 4,000 students.

It is hoped the campus, which is the first independent foreign university to be set up in China, will benefit students on both sides of the world.

Professor Yang Fujia, the university's chancellor and a leading Chinese academic, said: "Education can and will play a unique role in making China's development sustainable and in managing China's globalisation.

"The Ningbo campus is a vehicle for us to introduce the best practices of a leading international university."

Prime Minister Tony Blair already launched the new venture in another ceremony on Chinese television while on a visit to Beijing in September.

The university also opened a new campus in Malaysia - where it has been located since 2000 - in September.