Professor Michael Sutcliffe - University of Cambridge Engineering School Head of Department of Mechanics, Materials, and Design visited ECUST

On April 19th, Professor Michael Sutcliffe, Head of the Department of Mechanics, Materials, and Design at the University of Cambridge Engineering School, led a delegation to visit our university. Mr. Li Xiaopeng - Dean of the International Education Institute of our university, met with the guests and presided over the meeting. Zhan Wangcheng - Deputy Director （in charge） of the Office of International Cooperation, Zhang Min - Deputy Dean of the School of Pharmacy, Zhang Jingyu - Associate Professor of the School of Bioengineering, Wang Yamei from the Office of International Cooperation, and Shi Xiaoman from the Institute of International Education attended the meeting.

Dean Li Xiaopeng warmly welcomed Professor Sutcliffe's visit and briefly introduced the pioneering and pragmatic cooperation between ECUST and the University of Cambridge in recent years in cultivating high-level talents and technological innovation. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is a world-renowned institution with extensive academic influence in many fields. Since 2020, our university has introduced AI courses such as "Neural Networks and Deep Learning" from the University of Cambridge and has organized undergraduate students to participate in Cambridge University's summer and winter exchange programs each year. So far, the two universities have jointly trained 141 students through co-building courses and summer/winter exchange programs.

Professor Sutcliffe expressed his gratitude for the warm reception from our university and highly appreciated the cooperative progress made by the two universities, as well as the humanistic qualities and spirit displayed by the students who were sent to participate in the projects earlier.

During the meeting, the participants conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges on opening dual-master's programs in the field of life sciences, introducing courses related to biomedicine, student exchange programs, jointly conducting summer schools, and promoting scientific research cooperation.

Professor Sutcliffe mentioned that the University of Cambridge and East China University of Science and Technology officially signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in August 2023. He supports and looks forward to further deepening cooperation between the two universities based on the existing co-building courses and student exchange programs, expanding cooperation models and fields, especially the joint STEM academic summer school programme that will be launched this summer.

The Cambridge summer school programme has been running for 14 consecutive years, with over 17,000 alumni from previous online and offline programs worldwide. The courses of this project are designed and taught by Cambridge University professors and full-time tutors, accredited by the British Accreditation Council （BAC）. It is a world-class academic summer school designed with the core goal of developing students' comprehensive academic abilities. This year, the project will incorporate core courses and faculty advantages in the fields of information engineering, art design, and business offered by our university and will be open to global enrollment. This initiative is a new growth point in the strategic cooperation between the two universities and a new attempt by our university to actively implement the "High-level Quality Education Projects for Opening Up to the World".

Before the meeting, Professor Sutcliffe and his delegation visited the campus and the Joint Research Center of Feringa Nobel Prize Scientists, they had the opportunity to learn about the development history of our university and witness the advanced scientific research platform and the display of its achievements.