From May 22nd to 30th, a delegation headed by Xia Jianguo, deputy secretary of the school party committee and president of SUES visited the four universities including Liverpool John Moores University, University of Plymouth, French International Fashion Institute, and New Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. During the period, the delegation conducted profound exchanges with the schools on discipline construction, talent introduction, and construction of international joint laboratories in the fields of art and fashion, and officially signed the Sino-British Joint Laboratory Cooperation Agreement for Intelligent Sustainable Packaging and Design. The delegation reached an agreement with the foreign party on the establishment of an Overseas Education Center of SUES for Design. Besides, the delegation has conducted a presentation of introduction policy for overseas talents with a doctor’s degree.
During his visit to Liverpool John Moores University, President Xia and the university's President Mark Power held in-depth talks on the future cooperation between the two universities. Principal Xia pointed out that the two universities show quite a few similarities in their ideas of school-running. They are both applied universities that adhere to the concept of “integrating arts and engineering”. There is a lot of space for cooperation for both sides in the construction of “Sino-British Joint Laboratory of Intelligent Sportswear” and “Sino-British Joint Laboratory of Intelligent Sustainable Packaging and Design”, as well as in other aspects including joint cultivation of international talents, employment of each other’s professors, and joint research on large-scale international projects. The delegation visited the laboratories of the university and exchanged ideas with some outstanding teachers and doctoral representatives.
During the visit to University of Plymouth, President Xia and his delegation were warmly entertained by Jerry Roberts, Vice president of the university. Both parties signed an agreement of double Master's degree program for Traffic Engineering. During the talks, President Xia proposed that the two universities should strengthen the top-level cooperation, expand the areas of cooperation, deepen the contents of cooperation, and promote a well-organized and all-round strategic cooperation at the university level. The two sides also held friendly talks on the implementation of projects for mutual recognition of credits, exchange programs for international students in China, design exhibitions for Chinese and British students, exchanges of teachers, and scientific research cooperation.
During his visit to French International Fashion Institute, President Xia met with Gu Siming, Chairman of the Institute, and Chai Liwei, the Dean. President Xia presided over the meeting of the Joint Management Committee of the Sino-French Cooperation School Project and held meetings on related work.
During his visit to New Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, President Xia and his delegation were warmly received by Guido Tattoni, Director of Teaching Affairs at the Academy, and Maria Jaber, Director of the International Exchange Department. The two sides conducted in-depth exchanges on the implementation of double-degree program for Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree, the mutual visits and exchanges of the teachers of fashion and art between the two schools, the establishment of the China-Italy Fashion and Culture Research Center, and the Graduation Exhibition of International Fashion Design to be held in 2020. Professor Tattoni is pleased to accept the invitation of President Xia to become an adjunct professor of design studies at SUES. The delegation visited both of the two campuses of the Academy in Milan and Rome, and on behalf of SUES sent their best regards to the students of SUES who were studying there at the New Academy of Fine Arts in Milan.
As one of the three major strategies of SUES, internationalization plays an important role in the process of building a domestically first-class and high-level modern engineering application-oriented university. The delegation's successful visits, in-depth exchanges and consensus-reaching process have opened a new chapter in the international exchanges and cooperation between SUES and universities in UK, France and Italy. The tour has far-reaching significance. It adheres to the principle of building universities down to the earth of our motherland, integrating the strategies of “bringing in” and “going out”. It upholds the international standards so as to improve the level of relevant disciplines. It further broadens the channels of international exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and promotes the understanding and cultural communication between Chinese and foreign teachers and students. And it contributes to the bigger picture of SUES’ opening-up and future development in the long run.