SJTU Leaders Meet with President Attila Brungs from the University of New South Wales
On the morning of May 17th, President Ding Kuiling and Vice President Xu Xuemin of Shanghai Jiao Tong University met with a delegation led by President Attila Brungs from the University of New South Wales at the Minhang Campus. The two sides had in-depth discussions on enhancing comprehensive cooperation between the two universities. The delegation included Vice President of Research Nicholas Fisk and Deputy Vice President of International Affairs Lisa Zamberlan from the University of New South Wales.
Ding Kuiling warmly welcomed Attila Brungs and his delegation's visit. He introduced the latest developments of the university and reviewed the overview of the cooperation between the two institutions. The two universities have a solid foundation of cooperation, including seed funding, joint PhD programs, and student exchange projects. The student exchange agreement between the two universities allows for an annual exchange of 40 students, making it the largest quota among all the exchange agreements. He expressed his desire to further enhance research collaboration and joint student training based on the existing cooperation foundation. He also extended a warm welcome to more doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows from the University of New South Wales to study and work at SJTU.
Attila Brungs responded enthusiastically, emphasizing the high importance placed on cooperation with Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He expressed willingness to further expand personnel exchanges to promote deeper collaboration between the two institutions. He mentioned the intention to increase funding support to encourage more students to study at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He also highlighted the role of doctoral students as mediators to facilitate more collaboration between faculty members. Additionally, he expressed a desire to strengthen cooperation in areas such as green economy and renewable energy, aiming to contribute to sustainable development and human well-being in society.
Nicholas Fisk, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, highly praised the seed funding projects between the two universities. Using 2017 as a reference point, the number of joint research publications has multiplied sixfold over the past six years, with Shanghai Jiao Tong University becoming the University of New South Wales' largest collaborative publishing partner in China. Both institutions are committed to restarting the seed funding projects after the pandemic, focusing on more impactful initiatives and allocating increased funding resources.
Finally, the two university presidents renewed the joint doctoral training agreement between the two institutions. The joint doctoral training program was established in 2013, and its implementation has been highly successful, with dozens of doctoral students being jointly trained to date. In addition to the university presidents, the meeting was attended by leaders from various schools and departments, including the UM-SJTU Joint Institute, the School of Materials Science and Engineering, the Graduate School, and the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange. Following the meeting, the delegation also visited the UM-SJTU Joint Institute and the Student Innovation Center.
The University of New South Wales is one of the most successful Australian universities in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship education. It has the highest number of student startups and the largest number of students who have received entrepreneurship education, with a staggering count of 9,000 students. In the 2023 QS rankings, it entered the top 50. Our university and the University of New South Wales are both members of the U21 and the Pacific Rim University Alliance. The University of New South Wales is also one of the earliest universities to sign seed funding and joint doctoral agreements with our university.