Participants of the Roundtable pose for a group photo.
From June 21 to 22, 2015, Professor Chen Qun, President of East China Normal University (ECNU), attended the US-China University Presidents Roundtable held at Rice University. It was jointly organized by the China Scholarship Council and by Rice University. Vice Premier Liu Yandong attended the Roundtable and delivered a keynote address.
Liu Yandong delivers a speech.
Liu Yandong, Vice Premier of the State Council, and Yuan Guiren, Minister of Education, delivered subsequent addresses, both expressing the hope that Chinese and American universities can work together to make progress in higher education, thereby adding a new driving force to Sino-US relations. In her speech, Ms. Liu noted that the number of institutions and programs at the post-graduate level sponsored by China and foreign countries currently amounts to 1,116, one-third of which were established just in the past 3 years (examples include New York University Shanghai, Duke Kunshan University, and Wenzhou-Kean University). She stated her belief that the exchange and cooperation between universities in China and the United States can be further enhanced and deepened, establishing a model of exchange, mutual learning, and win-win cooperation between the two countries.
Chen Qun delivers a speech.
During the discussion portion of the event, Chen Qun made a speech on student exchange and digital education . He described how ENCU had set up an international education park, and how it has been influencing many world-famous universities to establish overseas campuses and teaching centers there since its inception in 2006. The park helps bring in more than 1,000 foreign students to study at ECNU each year. NYU Shanghai, the first Sino-US joint venture university, established in 2011 by New York University and ECNU, came into being from such a cooperation. President Chen conveyed his hope that ECNU will conduct all-around cooperation with additional universities, especially those from the United States, so as to provide new opportunities for further advancement of cooperation at the higher education level between China and the US.
Chen Qun attends the Roundtable and exchanges views with other participants.
The Roundtable, whose theme this year was, “New Areas of China-US University Cooperation,” covered such topics as energy and climate change, biomedicine and public health, digital education, student exchange programs, and general education. More than 20 presidents of famous universities in China, including those from Peking University, Tsinghua University, the University of Hong Kong, and the University of Macau, attended this event; over 10 American university presidents, including those from Rice University, New York University, the University of Chicago, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Maryland, University of Notre Dame and Vanderbilt University were also present at the Roundtable.
