Vice President led a school delegation on a visit to 7 European Universities
From December 9-18, 2013,Vice President ZhuoZhi of the Southwest University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE)led a school delegation on a visit to Finland, Italy, andthe Netherlands, during which the delegation visited seven universities and colleges andsigned two school-level agreements. These agreements include increasing the number of students and teachers in exchange programs as well as increasing the number of opportunities for research cooperation. Exchange students and international students from SWUFE expressed their appreciation for these opportunities. During this trip delegates from SWUFE were also able to meet with members of the organizing committee for the 2014 Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS 2014), which is being held at SWUFE next year. In addition, some delegates also attended the Global Information Systems annual meeting held in Italy.The Finance and Economic University’s Information Engineering College, Graduate School, and Office of International Exchange, as well as other related departments of the university also accompanied the delegation on this trip.
Vice President Zhuo signed an agreement with Abo Akademi University’s Rector Jorma Mattinen to begin cooperation on the e-Business Education and Research Network for Euro-Asian Collaboration (eBEREA). Vice President Zhuo also discussed with Vice RectorMalin Brännback about strengthening and deepening wider cooperation between the two schools as well as expanding channels for continued good communication between the two schools. Vice President Zhuo also visited the Finnish Aalto University, at which he had excellent discussions with Aalto University’s Vice President Seristö Hannu. The delegation also visited Trento University where they received a warm welcome from Vice Rector Paolo Collini. In addition, the delegation also visited two ofthe top-ranking finance business schools in Europe, the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration and the University of Turku.
The delegationvisited theMilanPolytechnic University(Politecnico di Milano)and hadcordialtalks withVice RectorNoci Giuliano.Vice President Zhuometwithmembers ofthe organizing committee forPACIS 2014 in order to prepare well for the upcomingannual Pacific AsiaInformationSystems International meeting as well as to continue to strengthen SWUFE’s platform for academicexchange programs with foreign countries.
The city of Maastricht, of the Netherlands,is a sister city of Chengdu. Vice President Zhuo from SWUFE and Rector Magnificus Luc L.G. Soete, from the University ofMaastricht,signeda memorandum of understanding in the hopes of promoting more exchanges and cooperationbetween the two universities. Chengdu was the head representative attending the Netherlands Council for the Promotion of International Trade meeting.
In every place they visited, the delegates from SWUFE worked hard to introduce the university, includingeducational philosophy,personnel trainingfeatures,postgraduate trainingandexchange programs, international certification,and foreignexchange programs. Furthermore, SWUFE put forth ideas that were received well and highly appreciated by the universities visited by the delegation. Those ideas included the purposeful planning and implementation of different types of exchange programs, as well as a focus on applied research for post-graduate training abroad. Each of these ideas takes into account the development prospects within China and Chengdu, SWUFE’s background, as well as the unique strengths of each university visited by the delegation.
Vice President Zhuo and all of the delegates were warmly received by exchangestudent representatives as well as student body representatives from Finland and the Netherlands. These exchanges provided an opportunity for the delegation to learn more abouthow exchange students feel about and understand Sino-foreign training for talented people, and these exchanges provided an opportunity for the delegates to listen to their suggestionsand commentson thetraining of schoolpersonnel.
This visit deepened SWUFE’s friendship and cooperation with high class European universities and schools as well as further promoted the implementation of SWUFE’s international strategy.
Background Information:
Finland’s Abo AkademiUniversity,AaltoUniversity,the University of Trento,HelsinkiSchoolof Economics (HSE), University of Turku, SWUFE’s e-Business Education and Research Network for Euro-Asian Collaboration (eBEREA), all of these received the CSC Outstanding Undergraduate International ExchangeProject funding.
Polytechnic Universityof Milan, Italy,(Politecnico di Milano)is one of the founding members of SWUFE’s newly established Alliance of Chinese and European Business Schools (ACE). In the 2011-12 QS World University Rankings, in the discipline (area?) of "Engineering and Technology", the Polytechnic Universityof Milan ranked #48. It was the first university in Italy to break into the QS World University Rankings for the top 50 Science and Technology programs in the world.
MaastrichtUniversityis listed asone ofthe top universities inthe Netherlands. TheTimes Higher EducationWorld University Rankings 2013-2014 rankedMaastricht University as #98 of top universities in the world. The U.S.-based QS World University Rankings ranked Maastricht University #107.
(The Finance and Economic University’s Information Engineering College, Graduate School, and the Office of International Exchange)
