On May 21-24, ECNU delegation led by President Chen Qun visited Universidad Santo Tomás of Chile and University of São Paulo (USP)of Brazil to further strengthen the University's cooperation and exchanges with universities in South America.
When visiting in Saint Thomas University (UST), Chen had an exchange meeting with UST Rector Jaime Vatter Gutiérrez, Roberto Lafontaine, Director of UST's International Exchanges Office and Paulina Dittborn, Dean of UST's School of Education. During the meeting, they reviewed the cooperation between both sides since ECNU and UST established intercollegiate relationship in 2010 and had a in-depth discussion to further promote the cooperation between the two universities including exchanges between students and teachers.
After the meeting, Chen was invited to make a keynote speech on internationalization of higher education at UST's School of Education. In his speech, Chen stated the background and significance of internationalization of higher education, made a general introduction of China's higher education and the development of ECNU's international education, forcast the future cooperation between China and South America in higher education, and invited UST students to have exchange studies in ECNU.
Universidad Santo Tomás (UST), a renowned private university of Chile, was established in 1988. With 14 campuses around Chile, UST has 31 majors and about 28,000 students. In 2010 October, a UST delegation led by its Rector visited ECNU. In 2010 December, UST signed a cooperation agreement with ECNU and became ECNU's first sister university in South America.
During the visit in the University of São Paulo (USP), Chen had a discussion with Claudio Possani, USP's Assistant Rector. Both sides signed a cooperation memorandum and shared views on teachers cooperation, students exchanges, and collaborative researches between the two universities.
The University of São Paulo was established in 1943. USP is the largest Brazilian university and the country's most prestigious educational institution. According to reports by Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, more than 25% of the articles published by Brazilian researchers in high quality conferences and journals are produced at UPS. It is ECNU's first sister university in Brazil.
Written by: Liu Jinyu
