On May 28th, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) International Capacity Building Meeting of the 2021 Spring Semester was held at the Lecture Hall on the first floor of the Academic Activity Center at the SJTU Minhang Campus. The meeting was aimed at implementing the requirement of building a comprehensive, innovative and international university proposed at the 11th SJTU Congress of the Chinese Communist Party to build a new model of international experiential talent development, deliver flagship projects for study in China and facilitate the execution of SJTU’s international strategy. The meeting was attended by SJTU Party Secretary Yang Zhenbin, SJTU Vice President Xu Xuemin and former Chinese ambassador to Saudi Arabia Li Huaxin, and facilitated by Xu Xuemin.
In his speech, Yang Zhenbin expressed the need to build a university that attracts outstanding young people from all over the world and that is an important part of the global higher education system and the global innovation network, which necessitates the establishment of a high-level management and service personnel with a good knowledge of international education practices and patterns and domestic and international situations and international policies of SJTU as well as with international communication and cooperation skills. This, he said, would help SJTU have a modern governance system and capacity and help tell better stories about China, make China’s voice heard and present a real image of China on all dimensions.
Xu Xuemin mentioned SJTU’s initiative to include global awareness and put diverse cultures and global awareness into the development of all faculty members and students, which she said requires the concerted efforts.
As the lecturer for the first session of the international capacity training for the management personnel, Li Huaxin was invited to elaborate on how to tell better stories about China to the outside world. He explained why it’s necessary to tell better stories about China from the perspectives of international promotion, international communication and public diplomacy, talked about what to tell and how to tell the stories and shared his insight in this regard.
His lecture was followed by the interactions with the audience. They exchanged ideas over the do’s and don’ts in diplomacy, opportunities and challenges in the transition of instructional, cooperation and communication patterns of universities/colleges in the current international context, global university/college education landscape, engagement and cooperation with universities/colleges in the Middle East as well as the future of the Confucius Institute.
At the parallel meeting for international student research projects, the International Affairs Division reported on admissions and project outcomes, and provided recommendations on where research practices could be based for international students going forward. Three teachers, namely Yang Jian, Ren Ruibao and Chen Junsong, were invited to the meeting to share their project experience and achievements. The international student research project not only presents the image of SJTU to the outside world, but provides an important opportunity for SJTU to engage with students from all over the word. SJTU will build on it to provide better and more effective international education.