From April 10th to 14th, Zhang Rong, the president of SDU, attended the eighth Global Colloquium of University Presidents (UNGC) held by Yale University, USA on invitation. During his visit in America, President Zhang met some alumni who study and work at Yale and in areas around it, and also visited University of California Berkeley and San Jose State College to improve inter-school collaboration relationship.
Zhang Rong, the president of SDU (the second left) made a speech at UNGC representing colleges and universities in China
From April 10th to 13th, UNGC was held in Yale University, involving presidents of 30 noted universities or heads of research institutes and scholars as participants. The colloquium made in-depth exploration surrounding the topic of "Preservation of Cultural Heritage". Zhang made a speech at the colloquium representing colleges and universities in China. He reported that colleges and universities of China, including SDU, had been making efforts in cultural heritage preservation for a long time, and particularly introduced the Seminar on Preservation and Research of Cultural Heritage held by SDU at the beginning of this month, and the Strategic Alliance of Chinese Universities for the Preservation and Research of the Cultural Heritage would be established by SDU which would took the lead. He explained the importance of science, technology and international cooperation in the preservation of cultural heritage, and proposed the concept of "Green Preservation" and "Precision Preservation". Green Preservation means "restoring the old as the old" according to the original materials and structures as possible, at the same time reducing the influence on environment and ecologic caused by the preservation itself; Precision Preservation means cultural heritages need precision archaeological study, precision analyzing and precision repairing. Zhang indicated that cultural heritage was the fortune of all mankind, and the preservation and research of cultural heritage was a global task. SDU is willing to make use of its advantages in archaeology, history, and preservation of cultural heritage to make more contributions to the preservation and research of cultural heritage together with UN, other universities and research institutes.
A picture of participant presidents and scholars in UNGC
UNGC was hosted by Yale University and was co-initiated by Brown University, Columbia University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University and New York University of the Ivy League. 30 universities and research institutes from 20 countries were invited. SDU attended the colloquium as one of the two invited colleges of China.
Zhang Rong respectively communicated with Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO and Peter Salovey, the president of Yale University.
During his visit in Yale, Zhang respectively communicated with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, Yale University President Peter Salovey, Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber, New York University President Andrew Hamilton, University College London President Michael Arthur, National University of San Antonio Abad del Cusco President Nicolas Caceres Huambo and so on, and broaden the collaboration relationship of SDU, UN and firs-class universities around the world.
A picture of alumni event
At the evening of 10th, Zhang met more than 20 SDU alumni who work and study at Yale University and in areas around it. He introduced SDU's development and future plan to alumni, and congratulated on their achievements. He expressed his hope that alumni can strengthen the linkage between them and SDU and make contributions to the development of SDU. Alumni said though they live abroad, they are so excited on hearing the news of SDU's development. They feel very inspired for the steady development of SDU, the startup of Qingdao Campus and more efforts made by SDU on international stage. They expressed that they will remember SDU's cultivation with gratitude and repay it with more contributions.
The photo of SDU President Zhang Rong and President Susan W.Martin of San Jose State University
On the morning of 14th, Zhang visited San Jose State University and met its President Sunsan W. Martin and Vice President and Academic Dean Andrew Hale Feinstein. They reviewed the outcome they have gained since they signed the inter-school cooperation agreement in 2014. They also said that these two universities have much cooperation opportunities on aspects like students cultivation, technique transformation, innovation and entrepreneurship. Martin introduced the history, student constitution and the cooperation situation with enterprises in Silicon Valley of San Jose State University. She also extended her welcome for students from SDU to come to SJSU for study and internship. Zhang introduced SDU through the geographic, economic and cultural situation of Shandong Province. He especially shared the construction situation of Qingdao Campus, showing that there are a lot of similarities between Qingdao and San Francisco in geography, economic development and innovation impulse. During the meeting, they agreed on exploiting their advantages and expending cooperation on students' programs, innovation and entrepreneurship, etc..
SDU President Zhang Rong were communicating with the Vice President of University of California, Berkeley Harry Le Grand, and had a work discussion with scholars from the engineering school of Berkeley
On the afternoon of 14th, President Zhang met with the Vice President of University of California, BerkeleyHarry Le Grand and the president assistant Nils Gilman separately. Zhang introduced the basic information of SDU, and especially mentioned the development concept, the plan of new and cross-discipline subjects and the international cooperation plan of Qingdao Campus. He reviewed the cooperation situation between SDU and Berkeley on intelligent transportation in the past few years and hopes to enhance the cooperation in this field and to extend cooperation on broad international scientific research. He also welcomed students and scholars from Berkeley to come to SDU for joint scientific research and study programs. Grande introduced the history, specialties of scientific research and student exchange programs of Berkeley. He hopes to cooperate with SDU on aspects as students exchange program and scientific research. Gilman extended welcome to President Zhang Rong on behalf of the president of Berkeley. He agreed that the intelligent transportation is a worldwide problem, and these two universities should be a demonstration of cooperation for the whole world including United States. After the meeting, Zhang had a work discussion with scholars from the engineering school. They showed confidence on the future cooperative research on the intelligent transportation, and agreed on working on establishing a joint research institution, establishing a city level experimental platform, developing advanced technology research and cultivating innovative talents. Famous scholars and heads of the engineering school and the intelligent transportation research center participated in the activity.
Staff from SDU's School of History and Culture, International Sinological Study Center, Integrated Transportation Research Center and Department of International Affairs, attended the meetings separately and visited Yale University and San Francisco.
Yale University, a member of the Iva League—a traditional famous universities league in northeastern America, was established in 1701. It has fostered 52 Nobile Prize winners, 5 presidents of the United States and 19 judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 2016, it ranked 11th on the list of academic ranking among worldwide universities, and 14th on the worldwide universities ranking by U.S News. Since 1994, SDU cooperated tightly with Yale on aspects as joint archaeology, joint scientific research and joint Phd Program. In 2012, the two universities signed the cooperation agreement. University of California Berkeley, a famous research-based university located in San Francisco, has cultivated 72 Nobile Prize winners. In 2016, it was ranked 4th on the list of academic ranking, and 3th on the worldwide universities ranking by U.S News. San Jose State University is a public comprehensive university located at the heart of the Silicon Valley which has the longest history on the west coast of America. It gained the reputation as “cultivating talents for the Silicon Valley” for its high employment rate of graduates and high salary. In October, 2014, it signed the inter-school cooperation agreement with SDU for the first time.
Translated by: Lin Yutong, Fu Xumeng, Michelle Pu
Edited by: Pu Yang
Photo by: Department of International Affairs, SDU
Source: View.sdu.edu.cn