On January 12, 2023, Wang Shuxin, President of Chongqing university, and Neville Pinto, President of University of Cincinnati, held a cloud dialogue to review the brilliant achievements of both universities in the past ten years and talk about the bright future. This conference was presided over by Liu Hanlong, Managing Vice President of Chongqing University. In addition, leaders of University of Cincinnati, such as Valerio Ferme, Managing Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs and Raj Mehta, Associate Dean of International Affairs also participated in the talks.
On the conference, Wang Shuxin elaborated on the achievements of cooperation between the two universities in the last decade and discussed the future prospects and current challenges. According to Wang, over the past 10 years, Chongqing University and University of Cincinnati through cooperative education have made great achievements in student training and engineering education reform. The co-op education model has been widely recognized and about 85% of graduates have been admitted to prestigious universities around the world for further study, of which 40% have studied for master's degree in the top 50 universities rated by US NEWS and have become a valuable alumni resource for University of Cincinnati and Chongqing University. The successful experience obtained by the two universities has become a model of cooperative education in China. As the social reputation continuously rises, the cooperative education has been highly concerned by the domestic education field. On the basis of the successful cooperative education, the two universities intend to expand the scale and jointly promote the reform of engineering education combined with their future development needs and industrial needs.
As Pinto said, 2023 is the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Chongqing University-University of Cincinnati Joint Co-op Institute, which will be a milestone year. Through the co-op model, the two universities have innovated in the talent training process and provided students with paid internship opportunities, experiential learning and diversified learning environment to help them increase confidence, broadened their horizons and cultivated their leadership, thus making students stand out among their peers and become the top. Such innovation is a great achievement for both universities.
Next, the two sides conducted in-depth discussions on the key issues faced by institutions working on Chinese-foreign cooperative education. Pinto made it clear that the cooperative education was very important and significant to the University of Cincinnati, and the cooperation between the two sides would not be hindered by some temporary difficulties. He promised that for the current challenges and bottlenecks, the University of Cincinnati would go all out to actively mobilize its resources to provide strong support for the Chinese-foreign cooperative education institutions of the two universities, and appoint a commissioner to form a work team and collaborate with Chongqing University to cope with the opportunities and challenges, and make joint efforts to raise the cooperative education between the two universities to a new height. Wang Shuxin expressed thanks to Pinto for his enthusiastic response and positive promotion, and said that he would try his best to find a path recognized by both sides to solve the current difficulties. He was full of confidence in further promoting the cooperative education between the two universities, and the two universities would continue to work together and forge ahead to make new achievements.
In a harmonious and pleasant atmosphere, the two sides also actively exchanged views on promoting cooperation to the level of postgraduate education, broadening the scope of cooperation to the fields of art design and medicine, and carrying out more abundant exchange activities of teachers and students, and eagerly looked forward to offline exchanges and further detailed consultations on deepening cooperation.
At the end of the talks, Neville Pinto sincerely invited Wang Shuxin to visit the United States this year to attend the graduation ceremony of the students in the Joint Co-op Institute. Therewith, Wang Shuxin accepted the invitation with pleasure. Liu Hanlong summed up the key points of the conference and extended the greetings of the Chinese Spring Festival to the education colleagues of the University of Cincinnati in advance.
Even more to the point, Huang He and Gao Xiang, respectively Director and Deputy Director of Office of International Affairs, Chongqing University, Zhang Zhiqing and Jiang Yan, respectively Dean and Vice Dean of Chongqing University-University of Cincinnati Joint Co-op Institute, John W. Weidner and Allen Arthur, respectively Dean and Vice Dean (for affairs of undergraduate) of College of Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Tom Huston, US Dean of Joint Co-op Institute and Sherry Liao, Project Manager of Joint Co-op Institute also attended this conference.
