On November 21, the Symposium on Sino-British Educational Connection was held at our school. A total of 33 people from the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education, the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy, 6 British universities and 10 colleges and universities in Shaanxi Province attended the symposium.
At 9:00 a.m., the Symposium on Sino-British Educational Connection officially kicked off in conference room 2 of the Lintong Campus. Vice President Li Shugang delivered a welcome speech at the symposium. President Li first thanked the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education and the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy for their meticulous organization and extended a warm welcome to British friends and colleagues from partner colleges and universities. He introduced the history, characteristics of the majors and achievements in internationalization of our school to attendees and finally wishes the Symposium on Sino-British Educational Connection a complete success. Then Deputy Director of the Office of International Affairs of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education Wen Tong introduced the overall situation of international exchange in Shaanxi; Representative of the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy Liu Jiao introduced the purpose of the symposium and the prospects for cooperation and exchange between Shaanxi universities and British universities.
At the meeting, de Montfort University, the University of Huddersfield, Teesside University, Canterbury University, the University of Canterbury, Anglia Ruskin University, the University of South Wales, Xi`an Polytechnic University, Xi`an International University and director of our school's Office of International Exchange and Cooperation Shang Changchun each gave a brief introduction about their own international exchanges and exchange needs. Finally, Director of the Office of International Affairs of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education Sun Jianning summed up the exchanges of British universities and universities of the province and hoped participating universities would fully communicate with each other, strengthen cooperation and carry out substantive exchange programs.
During the meeting, Chinese and British universities conducted roundtables in groups, one-on-one discussions and interpreted in detail the characteristics of their majors, their needs for exchange programs, their forms of exchange and the sharing of their experience in internationalization. The meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere and featured lively discussions. Associate dean Lin Haifei and Zhai Xiaowei at the College of Safety Science and Engineering and associate dean Xue Xicheng and teacher Cheng Aihua at the College of Geology & Environment held exhaustive talks with representatives of the University of South Wales on the cultivation of graduate students, teacher training, joint research projects and Sino-foreign joint school running programs. The talks proved productive.
The symposium is designed to carry out Sino-British educational connection activities in cities along “One Belt, One Road” routes and create a platform for exchange and cooperation between Shaanxi and British higher education institutions and vocational education institutions to promote the “flow of Chinese and English students” and “internationalization”.
