On 20 November, a delegation led by Lee Wildman, Director of Global Engagement at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), visited SBC. The meeting was attended by CHEN Qi, Director of the International Affairs Office of USST; CAI Hui, Deputy Party Secretary and Associate Dean of SBC; Jeffrey Wang, Head of School of Business and Manegement; Adrian Chong, Head of School of Engineering and Computing, as well as representatives from relevant internal departments. The two parties reached a series of important agreements on deepening the existing collaboration between USST and QMUL, joint scientific research and innovation, and exchanges between faculty and students.
On behalf of the University, CHEN Qi extended a warm welcome to Lee Wildman and his delegation. He recalled his visit to QMUL in May 2025 as part of President ZHU Xinyuan’s delegation, during which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed and potential collaborative projects were explored. CHEN noted that as a key applied-research university in Shanghai with a focus on engineering and multidisciplinary development, USST has consistently adhered to an open approach in education, actively expanding international exchanges and cooperation while innovating talent cultivation pathways. He highlighted the strong alignment between the educational philosophies and development strategies of both institutions, pointing to broad prospects for collaboration. Coinciding with QMUL’s 240th anniversary and the upcoming 120th anniversary of USST in 2026—as well as the 20th anniversary of SBC—CHEN warmly invited QMUL representatives to join in these celebrations and open a new chapter in bilateral cooperation.
Lee Wildman expressed gratitude for the hospitality of USST and SBC, praising the University’s long history and SBC’s distinctive “one-to-N” consortium model. He provided an overview of QMUL’s history, scale, international collaborations, and academic structure. He expressed hope to draw on successful experiences from partnerships with other Chinese universities to further advance collaborative initiatives between QMUL and USST. He also emphasized QMUL’s commitment to opening up high-quality research and educational resources, offering students diverse exchange opportunities such as international summer schools and study visits, thereby creating new avenues for international cooperation and talent development between the two institutions.
Meeting in progress
During the discussion, CAI Hui introduced SBC’s development over the past two decades, highlighting how its unique “one-to-N” model in Sino-foreign cooperative education has cultivated a large number of interdisciplinary talents with international perspectives and solid professional foundations, earning strong societal recognition and the title of “Outstanding Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education Institution” in 2025. She expressed hope to leverage this meeting to align with trends in digital transformation and interdisciplinary innovation in higher education, deepening cooperation in educational levels, talent development, research innovation, and joint programme development, thereby injecting new momentum into both institutions through high-level international collaboration. Jeffrey Wang and Adrian Chong provided detailed introductions to SBC’s disciplinary features, teaching practices, talent cultivation, and faculty development. Both sides discussed the construction and development of undergraduate programmes, explored joint cultivation models for high-level cooperative initiatives, and engaged in in-depth exchanges on topics such as AI-integrated disciplines, joint laboratory development, faculty and student exchanges, and international summer schools, laying a solid foundation for future cooperation. Following the meeting, the QMUL delegation toured the campus.
Campus tour
Group photo
