Delegation Led by NING Bin Attended the 4th Sino-European Workshop on Engineering Education

From Sept. 11^th to Sept. 15^th, 2013, President Prof. NING Bin led a delegation to attend the 4^th Sino European Workshop on Engineering Education held at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany and delivered a keynote speech on the theme of “Reflection and Practice of Current Engineering Education”. During the conference, President Prof. NING met with Prof. Eberhard Umbach, President of KIT and discussed future academic cooperation and exchange between the two sides. The delegation also visited the Operating Control Center of Deutsche Bahn AG located at Southwest Karlsruhe. Representatives from the Ministry of Education, Office of Academic Degree of the State Council, China Scholarship Council, 18 Chinese member universities of SEEEP and 12 member universities of CLUSTER attended the conference, discussing the future cooperation and development of Sino-European engineering education.

On Sept. 13^th, President Prof. NING Bin delivered a keynote speech entitled “Reflection and Practice of Current Engineering Education”, providing an overall scenario of current engineering education. He pointed out that at present, economic globalization, social development and technological revolution have together posed a great challenge to higher engineering education. In addition, international engineering education is now presented with a panoramic view of globalization, industry-university collaboration and interdisciplinary researches. In order to meet these challenges, higher education in China has undergone profound reforms, from the “Outstanding Engineers Plans” to “Washington Accord”, China has been actively working to explore new modes of engineering education. Prof. NING also briefed the progress we have achieved in talent cultivation, especially the theories and practice in terms of internationalization, industry-university joint training and cross-disciplinary researches. At last, Prof. NING summarized that in order to deepen the reform of engineering education, the relationship between theoretical knowledge and engineering training should be well coordinated, the integration of innovation bodies including universities, academic institutes, industries, enterprises and local governments should be effectively promoted, all the parties involved in engineering education must be actively motivated with policy guidance and support and sustainable engineering education must be ensured through optimized resource allocation.

During the conference, Prof. NING met with Prof. Eberhard Umbach, President of KIT. Prof. Eberhard Umbach gave a brief introduction of the development of KIT, including its history, academic overview and student development. He also reviewed the progress achieved by KIT in terms of collaborative innovation between science and education. Prof. NING briefed the major disciplines and joint programs of BJTU. The two sides also exchanged opinions on future cooperation and exchange and reached a consensus on joint education of students, communication of faculties and academic cooperation. Looking ahead, the two sides hope to strengthen the cooperation and exchange in advantageous fields including computer science, energy efficient building technology, information technology and telecommunication engineering, etc.

On Sept. 12th, the delegation visited the Southwest Railway Operating Control Center, discussing with the officials concerned on the topic of transportation mode, dispatching, operation security and control. There are altogether 7 operating control centers of Deutsche Bahn AG, monitoring and controlling the railway operation of Germany.

The 4th Sino European Workshop on Engineering Education was hosted by SEEEP and organized by KIT. SEEEP is composed of 18 Chinese member universities and 12 European member universities, annually hosting a workshop in Europe and China in turn. SEEEP has successfully provided an effective platform for the member universities of SEEEP to discuss future development and cooperation of engineering education.

Prof. LIU Zhigang, Executive Dean of the Graduate School, Prof. LI Changchun, Director of Academic Affairs and Prof. DONG Hairong, Vice Director of International Cooperation and Exchange accompanied the visit.