On May 27, the "New Strategic Direction In Sino-German Academic Cooperation - Forum on Cooperation between Tongji University and its German Partner Universities" jointly organized by Tongji University and the German Academic Exchange (DAAD) was held both online and offline at Siping Campus, Tongji University. Tongji launched the "Strategy 2.0 for Cooperation with Germany" and explored with its nearly 50 German counterparts on the common principle of pursuing "excellence, win-win results and become a model" in the future. This forum was one of the important activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany. It was also one of the series of important activities to celebrate the 115th anniversary of the founding of Tongji University.
Online participants at the forum
Chinese ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Germany WU Ken, Minister-counsellor HUANG Wei, German Consul General in Shanghai Pitt Heltmann, Secretary General of DAAD Kai Sicks, director of the project department Klaus Birk, Tongji University Secretary of the Communist Party Committee FANG Shouen, President CHEN Jie, Vice President LOU Yongqi attended the forum. More than 260 representatives from China and Germany attended the meeting.
In his speech, Ambassador WU said that this year marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany. Sino-German bilateral relations have stepped up to a new level over the past 50 years. Higher education cooperation is an important part of the close relationship between China and Germany. The cooperation between Tongji University and its counterparts in Germany has become one of the best practices to develop the solid link between China and Germany through cultural exchanges between people. It is expected that in the future, both Chinese and German universities will take more responsibilities to explore new ways of cooperation and build more cooperation networks by focusing on their own strong disciplines. More efforts are to be done to carry out complementary and mutually beneficial cooperation, and contribute the common wisdom of Chinese and German universities to seeking solutions to global problems.
Chinese ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Germany WU Ken
Consul General Hederman remarked that Tongji University is not only a window for China to understand Germany, but also a bridge for Germany to understand China. We are very happy to carry out fruitful cooperation with Tongji University and cherish Tongji University as a bridge between China and Germany. The cooperation between China and Germany in education and research is faced with many challenges and also has great potential for development. The German Consulate General in Shanghai will, as always, fully support the deepening of cooperation between universities of the two countries and look forward to more fruitful cooperation in the future.
German Consul General in Shanghai Pitt Heltmann
Secretary General Sicks said in his speech that Tongji University is one of the most important partners of DAAD. The joint efforts of the two sides have ensured the successful cooperation between Chinese and German universities in talent training and scientific research, thus making positive contributions to the solution of issues of common concern between the two countries. Even during the pandemic, various cooperation and activities between the Sino-German Faculty in China and its branches in Germany were carried out in an orderly manner, demonstrating the importance of mutual understanding and trust for bilateral cooperation. It is hoped that the two sides will further strengthen cooperation to promote win-win results in the future.
Secretary General of DAAD Kai Sicks
In his speech, Tongji University CPC Secretary FANG shouen expressed his heartfelt thanks to the Chinese Embassy in Germany, the German Consulate General in Shanghai, DAAD and German partner universities for their long-term concern, support and help for the cooperation between Tongji University and its counterparts in Germany. He said that since 1907 when the German doctor Erich Paulun founded the German Medical School with the support of the Chinese and German governments, which has become the current Tongji University over 100 years of development, Tongji University has always adhered to the tradition of cooperation with Germany, created a number of "pioneering ways" of Sino-German higher education cooperation, and become an important window and bridge for education, science, technology and cultural exchanges between the two countries. In the future, Tongji University will give full play to its traditional advantages in cooperation with Germany, deepen the connotations of cooperation with Germany, and improve the cooperation with Germany by integrating talent training, scientific research and communication between people, and contributing more "Sino-German solutions" to meet global challenges and promote human well-being.
Tongji University CPC Secretary FANG Shouen
President CHEN Jie delivered a keynote speech entitled "towards a world-class international university: a glimpse of Tongji University's concept of internationalization and cooperation with Germany in the new era". Internationalization is indispensable in building a world-class university, including becoming a desirable destination for excellent students from all of the world, a cradle of top innovative talents, and a gathering place of world-class talents where original ideas are inspired for frontier exploration, major scientific discoveries and technological inventions. A new concept of internationalization of higher education calls for consensus of common interests of mankind, based on which a "competitive and cooperative relationship" can be developed for international cooperation to promote the cooperative and inclusive development of countries and their higher education around the world. He demonstrated the vision and achievements of Tongji University in building an international world-class university, introduced the University's "Strategy 2.0 for Cooperation with Germany" in the new era. Internationalization is an important part of Tongji University's strategy to build a world-class university, and the University has built a solid foundation for mutually beneficial and win-win international cooperation in the future. Following the basic principle of aiming for "a small core, large periphery and high level" in cooperation with its counterparts in Germany, Tongji University will integrate its internal resources related to Germany, create a new ecosystem of Tongji University's cooperation with Germany characterized by "one roof supported by three pillars " to explore new ways of cooperation jointly with our German counterparts, make new cooperation achievements, and contribute to creating a new demonstration model of Sino-German higher education cooperation.
President CHEN Jie delivering a keynote speech
According to the Strategy 2.0, "one roof" refers to the Sino-German Faculty, which is responsible for integrating all cooperation resources of Tongji University with its counterparts in Germany and coordinating the bilateral cooperation, and "three pillars" to 1) education of outstanding engineers offered jointly by both sides, 2) coordinated development of Master's and doctoral students programs in science education, and 3) developmnet of humanities research and think tanks; The three pillors contain "two hard" and "one soft" pillors, where the "two hard" ones refer to the Sino-German Doctoral School and the Sino-German Joint Research Center (Tongji University), both focusing on science and engineering, while the "one soft" one to the German and European Research Institute in preparation with a focus on research in humanities and social sciences.
Tongji University will establish the first Sino-German Doctoral School in China to explore an innovative approach for Sino-German cooperation in joint education of doctoral students and joint training of high-level talents with global competitiveness. The Sino-German Joint Research Center (Tongji University), which was recently approved by the Ministry of Education, is an international research cooperation platform for cross-disciplinary cooperation between China and Germany. The Center will focus on the common needs of the economic and social development for China and Germany, and on the two themes of intelligent technology and green development, conduct integrated cross-disciplinary research, and combine international scientific research cooperation with talent education, aiming to make major scientific research achievements and cultivate world-class talents. The joint research center will try to implement a "double academic leaders" system, coordinate with different disciplines with their own strengths, support the establishment of research teams led jointly by Chinese and German professors, and carry out cooperation at the three levels of "professors - resident researchers (co PI) and postdoctoral - doctoral candicates".
President CHEN Jie and Secretary General Sicks, on behalf of Tongji University and DAAD, signed a Cooperation Agreement on Sino-German Faculty Between Tongji University and DAAD, marking the renewal of the Cooperation Agreement for the second time. Tongji University and DAAD jointly established the Sino-German Faculty in 2012 to strengthen their cooperation further. Under this "one roof" are gathered Tongji Unversity’s Sino-German Institute, Sino-German College of Applied Sciences and Institute of Vocational Education. The agreement was renewed for the frist time in 2017. After ten years of development, under the "roof" of the Sino-German Faculty, a number of units and projects of Tongji University have made outstanding achievements in their cooperation with Germany. The Sino-German Faculty and the series of cooperation under this one-roof framework are hailed as the lighthouse projects of Sino-German cooperation in science and education, and quoted in the such government documents as Sino-German Cooperation Action Plan: Shaping Innovation Jointly, and China Strategy 2015-2020.
Cooperation Agreement on Sino-German Faculty Between Tongji University and DAAD
renewed for the second time
Later, Vice President LOU Yongqi made a special report on the topic of "organic integration of international scientific research cooperation and international high-level talent education", introducing details of Sino-German Joint Research Center (Tongji University) and Sino-German Doctoral School for implementation of joint high-level talent education in science and education. He concluded with a proposal for cooperation to German universities and institutions.
Following the plenary session of the forum, Tongji University and its German partner universities held five special sessions on the topics of "organic integration of international research cooperation and high-level talent education", "Sino-German Environment Center", "Sino German Joint Research and Development Center for Sustainable Cities", "Sino-German Edcuation of Talents in Applied Sciences" and "Sino-German Communication in Humanities and Think Tank Research". Participants from China and Germany had in-depth discussions on the concrete implemenation of various cooperation under the new Tongji-German cooperation framework and reached a lot of consensus.
Sino-German Institute of Tongji University (Siping Campus)
