E9 Delegation Accomplishes the Visit to Europe — a Trip of “E9 on the Move”

From June 5 to 16, a delegation of China Nine Excellent Universities (E9) visitedEurope, accomplishing a program called “E9 on the Move”. “E9 on the Move” was led by TJU in collaboration with theTongjiUniversityand theNorthwesternPolytechnicalUniversity. In Europe, the delegation participated in the Erasmus International Fair and visited the Politecnico di Torino(Italy), theUniversityofTorino(Italy),theIstanbulTechnicalUniversity(Turkey)and theUniversityofTwente(Netherlands).

“E9 on the Move” aims at expanding the international influence of E9, as well as promoting the student exchange programs between nine partner universities and European universities through participating in the education fair and visiting cooperative universities and colleges.

On June 8, the E9 delegation participated in the Erasmus International Fair organized in collaboration between the Politecnico di Torino and theUniversityofTorino. Forty-five higher institutions from 14 countries participated in this fair. Rector Marco Gilli of the Politecnico di Torino, Vice Rector Maria Ludovica Gullino of theUniversityofTorino, and Ms. Dario Martinetti from the government ofTorinogave speeches at the opening ceremony. In addition to the presentations of the E9 and its partner universities, the E9 Summer Camp also attracted much interest from European students.

InItaly, the E9 delegation visited the Politecnico di Torino and theUniversityofTorino. At the Politecnico di Torino, Director of the International Relations Office Elisa Armando talked about the higher education inItalyas well as the ranking of the university, incubation of scientific results, technology transfer, international cooperation, English Teaching System, China Scholarship Council (CSC) program, and graduate admission and training. Both sides exchanged views on future collaboration between E9 and the Politecnico di Torino. At theUniversityofTorino, Vice Rector Maria Ludovica Gullino introduced to the delegation the history and disciplinary development of the university. The two sides held a discussion on the issues of PhD and post-doctoral students as well as visiting scholars.

On June 11, the E9 delegation visited theIstanbulTechnicalUniversityinTurkey. Director of the International Office Defne Korur mentioned the history and colleges of the university. She emphasized that all of the undergraduate courses were taught in English so that the university could develop the student exchange programs with the universities across the world. Afterwards, the E9 delegation held the education fair in the university, attracting strong interests of the engineering students on campus. And some of the students specializing in earthquake engineering expressed their hopes to head for the relevant universities of E9 for an exchange or post-doctoral research.

On June 14, the delegation visited theUniversityofTwenteaccompanied by Counselor Fang Qingzhao of China Embassy in theNetherlands. Rector Ed Brinksma received the delegation. He said that theUniversityofTwenteis willing to establish the partnership with E9 since Chinese universities are its important partners. On behalf of the E9 delegation, Counselor Fang expressed his appreciation for the university’s hospitality. He also hoped that E9 could intensify its publicity through various means. Afterwards, the delegation held a discussion with the representatives of the International Office, the relevant colleges and departments of the university on student exchange programs.

E9‘s visit to Europe is the first of its kind on the international stage. This initiative invented by TJU and greatly supported by all other partners highlighted the cohesive force among the E9 partner universities and their respective strength. It was an innovative exploration of external publicity and achieved the goal of raising E9’s international popularity. At the same time, it promoted the cooperation between E9 and European universities.