BJTU Delegation Visited Universities and Organizations in Australia and New Zealand

From 21-27 May, 2014, a delegation led by President NING Bin of BJTU visited universities and organizations in Australia and New Zealand to expand the cooperation in the Oceania region. The delegation visited University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, NICTA, Victoria University of Wellington and Auckland University. Meanwhile, the delegation also paid a courtesy visit to the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand.

On the afternoon of 21 May, the delegation visited the University of New South Wales and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof. Iain Martin met with the delegation. After a brief introduction given by Prof. Iain Martin and Prof. NING Bin, the two universities reached into consensus of common interests to conduct cooperation in the fields of students cultivation, faculty exchange and joint research etc.

Accompanied by Prof. Vassilios Agelidis, Director of the Australian Energy Research Institute (AERI) at UNSW, the delegation visited the Tyree Building (high-tech applied to the construction and operation of the building known as a comprehensive energy-saving building) and the Advanced Energy Conversion Lab. The facilities and the research work left a deep impression to the delegation members and the visit strengthened the foundation for future research collaboration between the two universities.

On the morning of 22 May, the delegation visited the University of Sydney and met with Prof. David Lowe, Associate Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, as well as other representatives from Student Recruitment and Admission Group, Business School, School of Civil Engineering and School of Electrical and Information Engineering. Both parties discussed the future cooperation sufficiently and agreed to cooperate in the fields of electronics engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering as well as economics and management. On the basis of undergraduate and Ph.D. exchange, the two universities agreed to strengthen the collaboration among faculty members and conduct research cooperation together.

On the afternoon of 22 May, the delegation visited NICTA. CEO Hugh Durrant-Whyte met with delegation and gave a brief introduction to NICTA. Prof. NING Bin was very impressed by the innovative operation mode of NICTA. The delegation also visited the Living Lab and Driving simulation lab, as well as had a fruitful discussion with the transportation and logistics research group of NICTA. Both parties highly reached the consensus for future cooperation in logistics and transportation fields.

On the afternoon of 23 May, the delegation visited Griffith University. President Ian O’ Connor, Vice President Sarah Todd and Vice President Michael Powell met with President NING Bin and other delegation members. Prof. Ian O’ Connor made a brief introduction of the University history, students scale, discipline development and development strategy of the University. President NING briefed the general information about BJTU and the contribution BJTU has made to the development of Chinesehigh-speed railways and urban transportation. Based on the current cooperation on tourism, the two universities agreed to expand cooperation on new energy, material science and bio engineering.

President NING Bin and President Ian O’ Connor signed the MoU after the meeting.

The delegation arrived in Wellington, New Zealand in the late afternoon of 23 May. The delegation headed to the Education Section of Chinese Embassy in New Zealand and met with the Education Counselor, Mr. CHEN Yue for the general information about higher education in New Zealand. President NING expressed the strong intention that BJTU would like to launch cooperation with universities in New Zealand and Counselor CHEN showed his great support to this initiative. On 26 May, the Ambassador Mr. WANG Luxin met with the delegation and hoped that BJTU could cooperate with New Zealand Universities to make contribution to the China-New Zealand relations.

On the morning of 26 May, the delegation visited Victoria University of Wellington. Dr. Neil Quiley, Managing Vice President and Dr. Mike Wilson, Vice President of Victoria University met with the delegation. The parties had an in-depth exchange and discussion on the possibilities of cooperation. Dr. Neil Quiley hoped to establish cooperative ties with BJTU in the field ofengineering and natural science education. President NING also visited the Artificial Intelligence Lab of Victoria University.

On the afternoon of 26 May, the delegation arrived in Auckland City of New Zealand,President NING exchanged ideas on bilateral cooperation between China and New Zealand with The consul-general of the People’s Republic of China in Auckland Mr. NIU Qingbao and first secretary working in education section Mr. FANGDongpo.

On the afternoon of 27 May, accompanied by FANGDongpo, President NING visited University of Auckland, and had a discussion with Dean of graduate school Caroline Daley, Deputy Director of International Cooperation and Exchange Office Harley Shileds, and professors from School of Electrical Engineering, School of Information Technology and School of Economics and Management. Both parties discussed the future cooperation fields and determined to start cooperation in electrical engineering andexpand the cooperation to other subjectsgradually.After the meeting, the MoU was signed between Electrical Engineering School of BJTU and School of Engineering of University of Auckland. Prof. NING Bin also visited Wireless Charging Technology Lab and Undergraduate design lab of University of Auckland. The Wireless Charging Technology Lab of University of Auckland is world’s first laboratory specialized in the wireless charging technology.