On 27-28 October, the 4th Meeting of the Deans’ Association of Chinese-foreign Cooperation (DACC) in running schools was successfully held at The Sino-British College (SBC), University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST). The meeting was attended by officials from the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE) and senior colleagues from about 20 non-independent Sino-foreign joint venture institutions around China. Members of the senior management team from USST and SBC were also invited to join the meeting.
The meeting aimed to provide a platform for participants to discuss about the role of Sino-foreign joint venture institutions in promoting the development of “Dual First-Class” universities in China. Discussions were also held on how to take innovative approaches for the further development of the Sino-foreign joint venture institutions while enhancing the overall quality of the institutions.
At the beginning of the meeting, Professor Tian Weifeng, Vice-President of USST and Dean of SBC extended a warm welcome to all participants. She expressed that it is a special year as USST celebrates its 110th anniversary and SBC celebrates its 10th anniversary. Therefore, she was delighted that the meeting was held at SBC this time.
In his speech, Professor Zong Wa, Deputy Secretary-General of CEAIE expressed that Sino-foreign joint venture institutions have witnessed continuous growth and development over the past few years. Currently, integration and innovation are the most important notions, in particular, for the non-independent Sino-foreign joint venture institutions which have been placed at the forefront for international education. It is believed that the aim for the next phase will be further enhancing the brand of Sino-foreign joint venture institutions in order to promote the development of “Dual First-Class” universities in China.
The work report of DACC was then given by Professor Zhao Yanzhi, Dean of Surrey International Institute, University of Dongbei University of Finance and Economics (DUFE), host of the DACC secretariat. It was also discussed that continuous efforts would be undertaken to enhance the quality of students in all Sino-foreign joint venture institutions.
Professor Linda Liu, Vice-Dean of SBC gave a keynote presentation on the achievement made by SBC over the past 10 years and the strategy and plans for further development of the College in the next 10 years. Another keynote presentation entitled “How sustainability and responsibility are changing our world” was given by John Peters, Chief Executive of GSE Research and Greenleaf Publishing.
At the meeting, based on the different background, experience and practice of each institution, discussions on student quality, teaching syllabus, academic staffing and internal governance and management were also held for the enhancement of overall level of Sino-foreign cooperation in China.
