On the morning of July 18th, the closing ceremony of the 2024 International High School Student Academic Summer Camp and the China-Arab Exchange & Youth Global Competence Forum was held at Room 300, Michigan Building, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Guests including Mohannad Nakbi, Consul General of the UAE in Shanghai, Fatima Mazrouei, Director of UAE Strategy, Human Capital at Mubadala Investment Company, Liu Weidong, member of the Party Committee and Vice President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Li Xinrong, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Continuing Education, Chen Qianbin, Dean of Michigan College, Yin Haitao, Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, and Ma Wei, Deputy Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange and Director of the International Student Development Center, attended the closing ceremony along with 37 students from the UAE.
Mohannad Nakbi expressed heartfelt thanks in his speech to Shanghai Jiao Tong University for organizing this International High School Student Academic Summer Camp. He hopes that the camp participants can become ambassadors spreading Emirati culture and customs, and he warmly welcomes students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University to visit the UAE for exchange and study.
On behalf of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Liu Weidong warmly welcomed the distinguished guests in attendance. He introduced the university's long-standing academic history and its significant achievements in international education cooperation. He expressed the hope that more students from the UAE would come to SJTU in the future, pursue their dreams, and contribute more to global development and exchanges.
Fatima Mazrouei, Director of UAE Strategy, Human Capital at Mubadala Investment Company, expressed gratitude to Shanghai Jiao Tong University and warmly congratulated the successful conclusion of the summer camp. She emphasized that this summer camp reflects the continuous development of friendship and cooperation between the UAE and China, and she hopes for richer and deeper collaborations with SJTU in the future.
During the closing ceremony, Ma Wei, Deputy Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange and Director of the International Student Development Center, reviewed the two-week summer camp activities. He mentioned that during the camp, participants not only gained professional knowledge but also built bridges of friendship. He hoped that this experience would be an unforgettable memory for the students and encouraged them to become ambassadors of friendship between China and the UAE, contributing to bilateral exchanges in the future.
During the forum session, Chen Qianbin, Dean of the Michigan Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Zhang Chuchu, Associate Director of the Middle East Studies Center at Fudan University, delivered keynote speeches respectively on the topics of "When East Meets West: Communication Between Different Cultures" and "Seeking New Progress: China and the UAE's Comprehensive Strategic Partnership."
Zhang Yu, Director of International Student Recruitment and Services at the Michigan Institute, Min Haiwei, Chinese language teacher at the United Arab Emirates University, Yao Ruidan, Principal of the IB Program Center at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated High School, and Gu Yunbo, former CEO of an American education development organization and Director of English as a Second Language Instruction in the Phoenix Union High School District in Arizona, USA, engaged in in-depth discussions on how to build cultural bridges and empower global youth.
During the closing ceremony, students from the UAE also showcased outstanding achievements in artificial intelligence and robotics studies during the summer camp. Student representative Hessa Ali delivered a speech in Chinese. Finally, all camp members sang the Chinese song "Xiao Meiman" together.
Li Xinrong, Party Secretary of the School of Continuing Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Chen Qianbin, Dean of the Michigan Institute, Yin Haitao, Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs, and Ma Wei, Deputy Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange and Director of the International Student Development Center, awarded the closing certificates to the summer camp participants.
The closing ceremony also featured a special UAE cultural exhibition area, which comprehensively showcased UAE customs, arts, cuisine, and recent developmental achievements in a vibrant and diverse manner.
The International High School Students Summer Camp at Shanghai Jiao Tong University made proactive and beneficial attempts and innovations from content design to activity implementation. The camp activities covered a wide range, from fundamental theory to cutting-edge technology, from classic cases to innovative practices, from academic courses to cultural experiences, providing outstanding high school students from around the world with a rich and professional academic and cultural journey.
In recent years, cooperation between China and Middle Eastern countries in the field of education has maintained a positive momentum. In May of this year, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the UAE, President Xi Jinping sent a letter in response to student representatives of the "Hundred Schools Project" for Chinese language teaching in the UAE, encouraging them to study Chinese well, understand China, and contribute to promoting friendship between China and the UAE. Against this backdrop, our university has also conducted diverse exchange activities with countries in the Middle East. Officials from the UAE Presidential Affairs Scholarship Office, the UAE Ministry of Education, and Mubadala Investment Company's Scholarship Department visited our university successively, focusing on discussions about international undergraduate programs, high school student summer camp projects, and other collaborations. This summer camp marked the successful hosting of our university's first UAE International High School Students Academic Summer Camp and achieved complete success.