On October 26, SUES hosted the 2024 Global Partnership Week Presidents’ Forum, aimed at exploring high-quality international cooperation and exchange in education. The forum brought together presidents, faculty members, and educators from outstanding universities worldwide to discuss cooperation and development pathways centered around the theme of Missions for University of the Future: Challenges and Reform of Higher Education, thereby promoting higher education and universities to a higher level of development.
Presidents, professors, experts, and scholars from nine universities in eight countries and regions, including China, South Korea, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong (China), and Taiwan (China), as well as Lin Meng, Deputy Secretary General of the International Education Association Shanghai, attended the forum. The forum was presided over by Vice President Xia Chunming.
Li Jiang, Secretary of the CPC SUES Committee, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of SUES. He introduced SUES' mission, achievements over its 46-year history, open cooperation efforts, and its goal of becoming a domestically leading and internationally renowned modern applied engineering university. He emphasized that universities, as mission-driven organizations, should fully leverage their functions in talent cultivation, scientific research, social services, cultural inheritance and innovation, and international exchange and cooperation to jointly shape a better future for humanity. He hoped the forum would serve as a platform for ideological exchanges and cooperative innovation among universities both domestically and internationally, fostering mutual learning and jointly addressing new challenges in higher education posed by the rapid development of AI and the new round of technological and industrial revolutions, thereby contributing the wisdom and strength of universities to global economic and social development.
Lin Meng, Deputy Secretary General of the International Education Association Shanghai, stated that in today's increasingly globalized world, higher education is no longer isolated but must align with international standards and keep pace with the world. This presidents’ forum is not only an intellectual feast for higher education but also a crucial opportunity to promote global educational innovation and cooperation.
Revolving around the theme of Missions for University of the Future: Challenges and Reform of Higher Education, six university presidents and representatives from different educational models: including Yu Tao, President of Shanghai University of Engineering Science; Ge Zixiang, President of Lunghwa University of Science and Technology; Alan Lau, President of Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong; Anton Nalivaiko, Vice President of Moscow Polytechnic University; Klemens Kleiminger, CEO of the Northern Institute of Technology Management, the Business School at the Hamburg University of Technology; and Verena Seitz, President Representative of Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences—delivered keynote speeches. They shared insights on how applied universities should adapt to new situations, lead educational reforms, and cultivate talents that meet future social needs amidst the backdrop of industrial upgrading and deepening globalization.
President Yu Tao, under the topic Rethinking the Reconstruction of the Academic Community for Shanghai's Industrial Development, shared with the guests reform ideas on optimizing the discipline layout and building an industrial academic community tailored to Shanghai's 2+3+6+4+5 industrial system. He pointed out that, faced with the opportunities and challenges brought by industrial upgrading, applied universities should dare to break through and innovate the existing discipline system, creating a rational, responsible, and rule-based educational model. He expressed that SUES looks forward to building a platform for faculty and student exchanges with more partners and making its due contributions as an applied university to current academic development and social governance needs.
SUES signed an International Cooperation and Exchange Agreement with Moscow Polytechnic University, officially establishing an inter-university partnership to jointly explore new areas of future cooperation.
The forum showcased the educational achievements of International Institute of Creative Design, SUES and reviewed the fruitful results achieved through more than 20 years of cooperative education with Dongseo University of South Korea. Chairman Li Jiang and Ms. Park Dongsoon, Dongseo Educational Foundation Chancellor, jointly inaugurated the Glocal Design Strategy Research Center.
From October 21 to 26, during SUES’ 2024 Global Partnership Week, representatives from Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences of Germany, University of Dundee, Edinburgh Napier University, Liverpool John Moores University and Buckinghamshire New University of the UK, University of Northern lowa and University of Arizona of the USA, and University of Oulu of Finland visited SUES to discuss cooperation.
The 2024 Global Partnership Week Presidents’ Forum and the series of international exchange activities provided a platform for university presidents and educational representatives from various countries to learn from each other, strengthening friendly relationships and cooperation networks among universities worldwide. SUES will continue to uphold the principle of open education, implement the development strategy of “open cooperation”, bravely shoulder the mission of the times as a high-level modern applied engineering university, cultivate outstanding talents with innovative thinking, social responsibility, international perspectives, and cultural inclusivity, and promote the thriving international exchange in higher education.