On the afternoon of November 8, the opening ceremony of the Chinese-Foreign cooperative undergraduate education project jointly organized by Central South University (CSU) and Monash University (MU) in Australia was held in the fourth conference room of the Science and Education Building at the main campus of CSU. Li Zhihong, Vice President of CSU, Li Zhou, Dean of CSU School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wang Weidong, Dean of CSU School of Civil Engineering, Yiannis Ventikos, Dean of Engineering at MU, Neil Cameron, Head of Department of Material Science and Engineering at MU, and other leaders and teachers from both sides, along with all students of the 2023 International Class, attended the opening ceremony. The ceremony was chaired by Chen Qiang, Deputy Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchanges.
Li Zhihong reviewed the cooperation between the two universities and expressed his high expectations for the new students. He pointed out that the cooperation between the two universities was not interrupted by the three-year COVID-19 pandemic. In today’s world of increasingly fierce competition and closer cooperation, China is vigorously promoting Chinese-Foreign cooperative education with the aim of introducing high-quality overseas educational resources and developing high-quality and cross-cultural talents with broad international perspectives and global competence. As the pandemic ends, international cooperation and exchanges become more frequent and close. CSU will continue to vigorously promote international development, strengthen internationalized training, and provide strong support for Chinese-Foreign cooperative education projects to ensure the growth and development of students.
Professor Yiannis Ventikos, Dean of Engineering at MU, expressed his gratitude to CSU for its continuous support to the cooperation between the two universities, and expressed his appreciation for the long-term strategic partnership between the two sides. He emphasized that the three-year pandemic has made both sides fully aware of the importance of engineering and international cooperation. Today’s world needs international talents who are competent on the global stage. The cooperation between CSU and MU, two top engineering universities, will promote the cultivation of international talents.
Li Zhou, Dean of CSU School of Materials Science and Engineering, and Wang Weidong, Dean of CSU School of Civil Engineering, respectively introduced the general information and characteristics of the schools’ programs and cutting-edge scientific research findings to the students, and highly praised the achievements of cooperative education projects over the years. Looking back on the high-quality and high-level cooperation in the past decade, the two universities have made remarkable achievements in cooperation, opened up international perspectives for students, integrated high-quality resources of the two top universities, and jointly cultivated a large number of outstanding students.
On behalf of the new students, Li Yanan of the School of Materials Science and Engineering and Qiao Siyu of the School of Civil Engineering shared their views from the perspectives of adjusting to university life and outlook of future learning. They expressed confidence and hope for the future, and the courage and determination to climb new heights despite difficulties.
MU is a founding member of the Group of Eight, an alliance of Australia’s leading universities, and ranks among the world’s top 20 universities in materials science and engineering, civil engineering, etc. The two universities were approved to jointly carry out the Chinese-Foreign cooperative education projects in Materials Science and Engineering and in Civil Engineering in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Both are four-year undergraduate programs. So far, more than a thousand students have participated in these projects, with a total enrollment of 120 students this year, including 60 in the Materials program and 60 in the Civil Engineering program. There are currently over 500 students enrolled in the programs.
(First Reviewer: Zhang Bei, Second Reviewer: Wang Xuan, Third Reviewer: Li Yin)
Source: Office of International Cooperation and Exchanges
Original article link: https://news.csu.edu.cn/info/1003/157310.htm
