On December 8, a delegation led by President Jean Meyer from the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS), Germany, visited SUES. Secretary of the CPC SUES Committee Li Jiang and President Lou Yongqi met with the delegation respectively. The reception included heads of relevant departments such as the International Office, School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Art and Design, and School of Higher Vocational Education.
Li Jiang held discussions with President Jean Meyer and his delegation at the VIP room of the administration building on Songjiang campus. He extended a warm welcome to the guests and reflected on the productive outcomes of the exchange during his own delegation’s visit to THWS in May of this year. He acknowledged THWS’ achievements in educating practice-oriented professionals and emphasized that SUES’ vision to become a world-class application-oriented innovative university with distinctive industrial characteristics relies on innovative practices in Sino-German cooperation. He noted the high alignment between the two universities in educational philosophy and disciplinary structure, expressing the hope to establish a long-term, stable, and in-depth partnership to promote concrete collaboration in areas including faculty-student exchanges, joint research, and cooperative education programs.
President Lou Yongqi held cooperation talks with the delegation at the SUES-DIIS Joint Innovation Center. During the meeting, President Lou elaborated on SUES' innovative 3-Wings concept, which integrates Engineering, Management, and Design, as well as its initiatives in interdisciplinary integration, innovation and entrepreneurship education, and internationalization. He proposed exploring collaborative models with THWS in several shared areas of strength, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, design, and management, aiming to jointly build a high-level platform for Sino-German cooperation in applied technology education.
Jean Meyer expressed sincere gratitude for the warm reception. He stated that higher education should not only fulfill teaching and research functions but also emphasize the responsibility to “solve practical problems and meet societal needs.” He highly commended SUES, as a leading application-oriented institution, for its successful practice of this educational mission. He expressed hope that through established cooperation, the two universities could achieve effective exchange of ideas and complementary advantages.
During the meeting, representatives from both sides held fruitful discussions on specific topics, including joint program development and collaborative research.
During their visit, the delegation toured the Shanghai Higher Education Innovation & Entrepreneurship Education Experimental Base, the Innovation & Chip Lab at School of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Boeing 737-800 Flight Simulator Project on Songjiang campus. They expressed admiration for the University’s advanced experimental and training facilities, its industry-integrated practical teaching model, and its dynamic atmosphere for engineering innovation.
This visit served as a significant reciprocal follow-up to the SUES delegation’s visit to THWS in May this year, laying a solid foundation for the two universities to sign a future Memorandum of Understanding and launch specific cooperative projects.
