On the morning of April 18, President Pei Gang met with Dr. Gene D. Block, Chancellor of UCLA, Randal Johnson, Vice Provost, and Ren Sun, Associate Vice Provost in the Xu Ri Building.

During the meeting, President Pei elaborated on the historical development and the disciplinary system of the school, and highlighted the international cooperation platform and the ongoing “Project of Excellent Engineers”. He said that, due to historical reasons, Tongji University had established a good relationship with many European countries, and had carried out various forms of communication and cooperation, including double degree programs, student exchange, joint international cooperation platforms etc. He also extended his wish to actively develop the international cooperation with the United States at the same time of maintaining the cooperation with the European countries. President Pei explained that, in the international respect, the goal set by Tongji University was to provide international experiences to half of the students during their school years. To achieve this goal, the school had drawn up international developing strategies to smoothly promote the internationalized efforts.

Dr. Gene Block agreed on the introduction and views shared by President Pei Gang. He said that UCLA also valued the international development of the school. He hoped that more and more US students could have the opportunities to study and live in the foreign countries outside the United States, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. He said that this meeting not only deepened the mutual understanding of the two schools, but also served as a chance to launch the summer schools and short-term student exchange programs with Tongji University, and to develop various forms of disciplinary cooperation in the fields of medicine and life sciences.