From April 23 to 30, Gong Siyi, Deputy Secretary of the CPC SDJU Committee and President of SDJU, led a delegation and visited Belgium and Germany. This was the first visiting educational delegation of our university after a three-year break, which further reflected SDJU’s international strategy to deepen cooperation with German universities. The delegation visited the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) in Belgium and Hochschule Kaiserslautern (University of Applied Sciences), Saarland University of Applied Sciences (htw saar) and Munich University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) in Germany. During the visit, the delegation also visited Professor Silvia Kettelhut, SDJU Distinguished Researcher and Professor Feng Xiao, Director of SDJU German Research Center, and had a working meeting with them.
On April 24, the delegation visited VITO and had a detailed discussion with Professor Bert Bouwman (Unit Manager), Professor Deepak Pant (Senior Researcher), and Chen Zhiyuan (Researcher). Based on the cooperation agreement signed last year, a detailed discussion on joint graduate program, academic visit and cooperative research was carried out. Details for SDJU graduates to study at VITO were discussed, and invitation of VITO scholars to conduct research and teaching activities at SDJU was extended.
(A Visit to VITO lab)
On April 25, SDJU delegation visited Hochschule Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences (HKUAS) of Germany. Mayor of Pirmasens came to the welcome ceremony and expressed his appreciation for the facilitating role of SDJU and HKSUA cooperation to local economy and society during the past 20 years. SDJU delegation had a cordial meeting with HKUAS President-Prof. Hans-Joachim Schmidt, Vice President Prof. Michael Magin, Head of the Pirmasens Campus Professor Ralph Weigland, Director of the International Department Ms. Daniela Fleure and German Head of Sino-German cooperatively-run educational institution Prof. Chen Liping, etc. The two sides had fruitful talks on undergraduate double degree cooperation, graduate program, faculty development and research exchange, cooperation of joint course and textbook, etc., which clarified the direction of collaboration between the two sides. On the occasion of SDJU’s coming 70th anniversary, President Gong invited HKUAS President to have a delegation visit to SDJU and deliver a keynote speech at the Sino-German Manufacturing Forum, and he gladly accepted the invitation.
On the same day, the delegation, accompanied by Vice President Michael Magin and his entourage throughout the day, also visited HKUAS’s new teaching and research lab building, which is the largest educational project supported by local government in the past 20 years. The building emphasizes the relevance of experiments to production, attaches importance to student participation in research, accepts and recruits students with master’s degree or above to directly participate in research and production, all of which provide useful references for SDJU.
During the visit, the delegation also paid a visit to SDJU students studying at HKUAS, and had a discussion with student representatives to learn their study and life.
(With HKUAS President)
(With Mayor of Pirmasens)
(With SDJU students at HKUAS)
(Basement of the new HKUAS lab)
On April 26, SDJU delegation visited htw saar, and met with Prof. Dieter Leonhard, (htw saar President), Prof. Martina Lehser, Prof. Wang Xiaoying, Prof. Qu Wenmin, and Ms. Anne Steinhaus (Director of the Administrative Office of UAS7 Universities of Applied Sciences). In order to promote international exchange with UAS7 and further develop SDJU’s Germany related teaching and research, and take into consideration respective resource advantages and cooperation needs, our university and htw saar signed Framework Agreement on Cooperation, which defines cooperation intentions in faculty and student exchanges and training, joint research, exchange of research findings, and holding academic conferences and seminars, etc.
On the same day, SDJU delegation was invited to visit the Center for Digital Neurotechnologies Saar, Electronics and EMC, and Alternative Drive Technology Center, and was deeply impressed by htw saar’s close connection and integration with industrial enterprise.
(Signing cooperation memorandum with htw saar)
On April 28, SDJU delegation visited Munich University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) of Germany, and met with Prof. Klaus Kreulich (Vice President), Ms. Johanna Aigner, (Head of International Office), Ms. Gabriela Vasil (Head of the Summer Program), Prof. Mathias Gabrysch (Department of Engineering and Management), Prof. Jürgen Spitznagel, Prof. Peter Jandok (Department of General and Interdisciplinary Studies), and so on. President Gong introduced SDJU’ major construction, talent cultivation model, students’ ability, and the upcoming cooperation with MUAS. Then she invited MUAS President to visit SDJU. It’s decided at the meeting that 8 students majoring in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, automotive engineering and logistics engineering would come to MUAS in the summer of 2023 for a five-week summer training program in sustainable engineering, which will be the first SDJU-MUAS program. It’s certain that more cooperative programs will ensue.
(With MUAS Vice President)
Liu Jun, Dean of SDJU Kaiserslautern School of Intelligent Manufacturing and School of Machine Engineering, Li Rongbin, Dean of School of Materials Science and Engineering, and Sun Lijiang, Director of International Affairs Office, accompanied on the visit.