To increase understanding of overseas strategic partners of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), share experience and promote communication with them, SJTU collaborated with the University of Sydney in holding a workshop on executive communication from June to July 2021, where participants communicated over strategic planning, university rankings, admissions of international students, student exchanges, instructional reform, university culture and intercultural capacity building.

The workshop is not only part of SJTU’s Executive International Capacity Rebuilding Initiative, but one of the specific measures of “Working for the People” taken by the International Affairs Division of SJTU in its study program of the history of the Communist Party of China. The workshop was launched to meet the need of SJTU’s executive team, as COVID-19 has made it difficult to have face-to-face international communication and there has been a pressing need to have a deep understanding of what the leading universities abroad have been doing. As of now, SJTU has launched three rounds of online dialogue with the University of Sydney.

Deputy Director of the International Affairs Division Mr. Guo Liang said that the workshop was SJTU’s attempt at beneficial communication and learning with its strategic partners abroad over management. The in-depth, sincere and targeted sharing of ideas between the teams of SJTU and the University of Sydney, broadened their vision, deepened their understanding of each other’s university culture and management measures, and provided a template for SJTU’s deep communication and exploration with more patterns over more themes.

As the workshop was held, the departments of the two universities in charge of strategic planning shared university research rankings, overall planning and the ideas and potential measures in relation to tracking the global strategic development progress of universities. The departments for student affairs shared the key targets and action plans for student exchange programs, student business and social practice programs and curriculum reform plans. And other departments of the two universities communicated over their respective cultural strategy and evaluation, human resources management, international student admission strategy as well as strategy and practice for faculty and student intercultural communication capacity building.

The Executive International Capacity Rebuilding Initiative is one of the key priorities of SJTU’s International Affairs Division this year. It was proposed at 11th SJTU Congress of the Communist Party of China to build a strategic system of “Global SJTU” that aims to provide better education on the whole. The key to meeting this ambitious goal lies in higher international competency of the management. Building one of the world’s leading universities in terms of philosophy, capacity, level and comprehensive competitiveness, urgently requires a high-quality executive team that has a good knowledge of international education practices and patterns, a good perception of domestic and international developments, a keen understanding of SJTU’s international policies and a strong capacity of international communication and cooperation.

Vice President of SJTU Ms. Xu Xuemin talked about the next steps in international development that SJTU would take, such as upholding the principle of proactive leading, mutual interaction and intelligent sharing, integrating international initiatives and measures into the comprehensive and innovative development of SJTU, embedding cultural diversity and global awareness into the development philosophy of SJTU’s faculty, blending the “Five Strategies” of SJTU’s future development into its international planning, and adding fresh elements to SJTU’s international endeavors in the new era.