Rector of Politecnico di Torino visited Tianjin University

On 18 September, Prof. F. Profumo, Rector of Politecnico di Torino visited Tianjin University (TU), whose delegation also included Prof. C. Naldi, Vice President, Prof. Qiuping Chen, China Cooperation Project Leader and Prof. M. Baldi, Project Manager of Sino-Italian Campus in Shanghai. President GONG Ke met the delegation in the Conference Building. To start with, he gave a brief talk on the history, education, research and international cooperation of TU, especially its strengths in the area of engineering. Then Rector Profumo briefed the history, ranking, funding, international education and collaboration of Politecnico di Torino, with particular introduction to the ongoing programs for foreign researchers, visiting professors and international students. Both sides agreed to strengthen mutual understanding, and promote the long-term collaborative relationship through exchanges of students and faculty members. It is also expected that researchers from the two universities can collaborate in EU programs and make active contribution to Sino-European research cooperation. After the meeting, the delegation visited School of Electric Engineering and Automation, School of Electronic Information Engineering and School of Architecture, and held discussions with school representatives on possible cooperative programs concerning education and research. Politecnico di Torino, established in 1859, is one of the earliest national engineering universities in Italy, and now has 26000 students, 900 professors/researchers, and more than 120 academic courses, both in Engineering and in Architecture. In 2007, it ranks No. 7 among EU engineering universities and top 1 among engineering and technical universities in Italy.