On 28th May 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Education (MoE) seminar on Sino-Foreign cooperation in running schools was held at the Sino-British College, USST. The seminar’s overall aim was further to enhance the overall management of Sino-Foreign Joint Venture (JV) educational institutions and to support the building of first-class universities and top-quality academic disciplines.
Officials present at the seminar included Xu Tao, Head of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, MoE; Yan Bingchen, Head of the Division of Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, MoE, and Chair of the seminar; Tang Zhenfu, Deputy Director of Quality Assurance for Cross-Border Education, China Education Association for International Exchange; Ding Xiaodong, Deputy Director of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and Yang Weiren, Director and Lu Lili, Deputy Director of International Exchange, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission.
Prior to the seminar, accompanied by President Hu Shougen of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST), the officials were shown around the campus and given a brief introduction on the international development of USST.
Over 20 senior managers from Sino-Foreign JV educational institutions and programmes in Shanghai participated in the seminar, including Professor Yu Lizhong, Chancellor of NYU Shanghai; Professor Jiang Bo, Vice-President of Tongji University; Professor Liu Chunhong, Vice-President of Donghua University; Professor Tian Weifeng, Vice-President of USST; Professor Jiang Yanqiao, Deputy Head of International Education Association Shanghai and Party Secretary of Shanghai Jianqiao University, and Professor Gong Siyi, Dean of SHU-UTS SILC Business School and President of Shanghai Vancouver Film School. Also attending from SBC/USST were Professor Shirley Ma, Director of International Affairs Office of USST, and the Party Secretary Liu Bin, Principal Professor John Wilson and Vice-Dean Professor Linda Liu of SBC.
At the beginning of the seminar, on behalf of the local government and JV educational institutions in Shanghai, Professor Ding Xiaodong extended a warm welcome to officials from the MoE. Participants were then invited to join open discussions, sharing their own experience and views on how to promote the building of first-class universities and top-quality academic disciplines through the practice of Sino-Foreign cooperation in running schools. In-depth discussions on teaching quality assurance and trends for the future development of Sino-Foreign JV educational institutions were also held while addressing the current issues in the running of Sino-Foreign JV institutions and programmes in the Chinese context.
Following the discussions, Xu Tao gave a closing speech. He stated that over the past few years Sino-Foreign JV institutions and progammes had made great progress and this has been high recognised by the Chinese Government and the public. It is hoped that more high-quality educational resources can be introduced into China through Sino-Foreign cooperation for the further development of Chinese higher education. Sino-Foreign JV educational institutions and progammes are also expected to share their successful experience with local institutions in terms of academic subjects and operational management to promote innovation and healthy development for Chinese education as a whole.
