Source: Office of International Cooperation & Exchange
Written by: Office of International Cooperation & Exchange
Proofread by: Guo Lianlian
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

From November 24 to December 2, 2016, Prof. Luo Jun, President of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), visited Germany, France and the UK to promote SYSU’s cooperation with European high-level universities such as the Free University of Berlin in Germany, University of Lorraine in France, University of Surrey and University of Birmingham in the UK. The visit has gained fruitful results.

On November 24, President Luo Jun visited the Free University of Berlin, attended the “Chinese Partner Day” event, and met with Prof. Klaus Müehlhahn, Vice President of the Free University of Berlin. The two sides introduced their universities respectively, discussed student exchange, joint program fro PhD candidates and post-doctoral researchers, co-hosting workshops and interdisciplinary research cooperation, and reached many consensuses. Both sides agreed to promote communication and cooperation between the two universities through the launch of a series of concrete and substantive projects.

On November 25, President Luo Jun attended the China-Germany Forum for Higher Education, Science and Innovation hosted by the Free University of Berlin. The forum was a supporting meeting of the 7th Hamburg Summit. Nearly 60 presidents of universities in China and Germany held in-depth discussions on the two themes of “Toward World-class Academics” and “Opportunities and Challenges of Cooperation between Chinese and German Universities”. Vice Premier Liu Yandong attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

On November 28, President Luo Jun visited University of Lorraine and met with Prof. Pierre Mutzenhardt, President of University of Lorraine, Prof. Karl Tombre, Vice President of University of Lorraine and Prof. Marc Braun, Dean of Faculty of Medicine at University of Lorraine. The two sides reached consensus in student exchange, joint workshops and research cooperation in medical sciences. President Luo Jun also visited the Laboratory of Soil and Environment at University of Lorraine. The Lab is a partner of the Sino-French Joint Laboratory of Soil Environment at SYSU. The two sides have made important progress in jointly applying for international projects, co-authoring academic papers, establishing joint graduate program, co-building research base and co-hosting international conferences.

On November 30, accompanied by Mr. Lei Fengyun, General Representative of China Association for International Exchange of Personnel Representative Office in the U.K., President Luo Jun visited University of Surrey and met with Prof. G Q Max Lu, President and Vice Chancellor of University of Surrey, Prof. Vince Emery, Senior Vice-President of University of Surrey, and representatives from Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at University of Surrey. President Luo Jun also visited the Surrey Space Centre. Both sides agreed that the two universities have good basis of cooperation in hospitality and tourism management and hoped that the two universities should continue to deepen cooperation and explore collaboration in space science.

On December 1, President Luo Jun visited University of Birmingham and met with Prof. Robin Mason, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of University of Birmingham, Prof. Jon Frampton, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (China) of University of Birmingham, as well as representatives from School of Physics and Astronomy and Institute of Applied Health Research. The two sides reached consensuses on strengthening cooperation and jointly conducting major research projects. Both sides agreed that the two universities have achieved remarkable cooperation results since the signing of MOU in 2012. The fields of cooperation have expanded to include medical sciences, environmental science, life sciences, software engineering, artificial intelligence, computer science, psychology, economics and management. The contents of cooperation included joint programs, student exchange, faculty training and workshops. Both sides hoped to explore cooperation in space science on the basis of consolidating existing collaborations.