This year marks the 105th Anniversary of Tongji University and its Centennial of Engineering Education. A series of activities were organized between May 21st and 25th on the occasion of Spanish Day and Establishment of Sino-Spanish Campus (S-SC@TU), setting off a new upsurge of our international cooperation.
On May 24th, Prof. Zhou Zuyi, Chairman of University Council attended the 3rd Seminar on S-SC@TU and met with the delegations of Polytechnical University of Madrid and Polytechnical University of Catalonia, led by the Rector Prof. Giro and the Rector Prof. Uceda respectively. Vice Presidents Prof. Dong Qi and Prof. Li Xin also participated in the Seminar. Prof. Zhou Zuyi highly appreciated the efforts paid by the three universities on S-SC@TU program in the past two years, and raised valuable suggestions with the deepest expectations on it.
On May 25th, President Prof. Pei Gang, Executive Vice President Prof. Chen Xiaolong, Vice President Prof. Dong Qi and Vice President Prof. Li Xin attended the Ceremony of Signing Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of Sino-Spanish Campus among Tongji University, Polytechnical University of Madrid and Polytechnical University of Catalonia. Besides faculty staff and students of the three universities, representatives from the Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China, Consulate General of Spain in Shanghai, Education Division of Embassy of Spain in China, Consulate General of Venezuela in Shanghai, Consulate General of Mexico in Shanghai, Consulate General of Peru in Shanghai, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, China Construction Bank and Banco Santander were also present to witness the establishment of S-SC@TU.
During the celebration of Spanish Day, activities like Preparation Meeting for Steering Committee of S-SC@, Spanish Film Appreciation, Spanish Food Tasting, and Flamenco.
CONTEXTS-SC@TU aims to provide a platform open to all Spanish-speaking countries and areas, on which Tongji will enhance the cooperation with Spain and Latin America. Oriented by the cutting edge research in Smart City and Sustainable Engineering, S-SC@TU will cover the advanced areas in all the three universities, like civil engineering, architecture and urban planning, transportation engineering, materials science and engineering, telecommunication engineering, computer science, administration, etc.
At the beginning, S-SC@TU will offer a bilateral exchange program named 20 + 20 Program, in order to let the students from the three universities know each other better. It is planned to start double degree programs in all mentioned fields from September, 2013. Besides, S-SC@TU will also promote Spanish language and culture by organizing courses, summer school, cultural activities, as well as the intercultural communication between China and Spanish-speaking countries and areas. S-SC@TU will be the eighth platform of Tongji University, after the Sino-German College for Graduate Study, Sino-French Institute of Engineering and Management, UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development, Sino-German College of Applied Sciences, Sino-Italian Campus, World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and the Pacific Region under the Auspices of UNESCO, Sino-French Centre.