On July 2, Mr. Kevin Hall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle (Australia) visited CSUST. Mr. Lai Mingyong, President of CSUST, warmly welcomed him in the Yuntang campus. Mr. Zhang Jianren, Vice President of CSUST and leaders from International Office, School of Civil Engineering, School of Electrical Engineering and School of Energy and Power Engineering also attended the meeting.
An appointment ceremony for visiting professors was held before the meeting. Mr. Zhang Jianren briefly introduced Professor Kevin Hall and Professor Alan Broadfoot, head of the Energy and Resources Institute. He added that the appointment of the two outstanding professors as CSUST visiting professors was truly an honor and hoped that this could build a platform for the academic exchanges and cooperation between UON and CSUST. President Lai Mingyong issued the certificates of appointment.
During the meeting, Mr. Lai Mingyong pointed out that CSUST would take this cooperation as an opportunity to further accelerate the process of internationalization of CSUST. He proposed to strengthen cooperation between the two universities from three aspects: first, to enhance the integration of study, research and industry. CSUST would be willing to learn from the advanced experience and cutting-edge academic achievements of the University of Newcastle in various fields, and apply these results to solve practical problems in order to promote integration. Second, to build a cooperative research platform. Both sides would make efforts to co-build laboratories for competitive disciplines and CSUST would strongly support such a platform to carry out the cooperative research work. Third, to strengthen personnel exchanges. Only through personnel exchanges could the substantive cooperation between both universities be implemented. He suggested that comprehensive and multi-level personnel exchanges could be undertaken between professors, between research teams and between students.
Kevin Hall appreciated the hospitality by CSUST staff. He said CSUST and UON had close and friendly cooperation, expecting that through this visit both sides would further implement cooperation projects in electricity and other energy related areas and promote the strategic partnership between the two universities. He also participated in a detailed discussion in the proposed cooperation projects.
After the meeting, the two sides signed a strategic academic cooperation agreement. During his stay in CSUST, Kevin Hall also visited related laboratories in the School of Civil Engineering and the School of Electrical Engineering, and had cordial on-site talks with experts in related fields.
