On February 24, Turo Kilpeläinen, President of Finland’s LAB University of Applied Sciences, and Janne Roslöf, Director of the Faculty of Technology, visited SUES. President Lou Yongqi met with the guests, with Wang Qin, Director of the International Office, and Fang Yu, Dean of School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, attending the meeting.
During the meeting, both sides focused on the future development trends of higher education, discussing topics such as AI-empowered teaching, learning, and research innovation, sustainable development and circular economy, and serving societal well-being. Both parties agreed that, in the face of global industrial transformation and technological change, universities should proactively respond to the needs of a circular economy society, concentrate on key areas such as AI and sustainable development, explore interdisciplinary integration and innovative talent cultivation pathways, and achieve deep alignment among the education chain, talent chain, and industrial chain.
In terms of Sino-foreign cooperative education, both sides focused on exploring the feasibility of collaboration in fields such as “AI-empowered design studies” and “circular economy,” promoting the spinnovation integration of “engineering + management + design.” At the same time, both parties reached a consensus on deepening industry-education integration, proposing to systematically incorporate enterprise and industry needs into the entire talent cultivation process, shifting from “serving enterprise needs” to “creating new industries and leading enterprise development,” and exploring a more innovative and forward-looking model of Sino-foreign cooperative education.
Janne Roslöf introduced the disciplinary structure and practical features of the Faculty of Technology, noting that both sides can leverage English-taught programs to actively promote multi-level and multi-type student exchanges, including double-degree programs, student exchange programs, international internships, short-term courses, and thematic courses. In addition, both sides aim to expand diverse cooperation forms such as faculty visits, professional training, and joint research, building a more open, flexible, and sustainable cooperation mechanism.
During the visit, the delegation also toured the “Nlimited Tech Lab” led by Associate Professor Chen Junkai. As a newly established interdisciplinary innovation platform at SUES, the lab centers on the 3-wings talent cultivation model of “engineering + management + design”, promoting the coordinated development of talent cultivation, research innovation, and entrepreneurship reform. The lab advocates breaking disciplinary boundaries and applies an open, circular, and iterative innovation concept to create a future-oriented, cross-disciplinary collaborative education ecosystem, leaving a deep impression on the visiting guests.
This visit further strengthened the mutual understanding between the two universities in the field of application-innovation-driven higher education, laying a solid foundation for future practical cooperation in Sino-foreign cooperative education, faculty and student exchanges, and joint research initiatives.
