A Delegation of Presidents of Macquarie University Visited Nanjing Normal University

On April 18, a delegation of seven people from Macquarie University (MQU), including President Bruce Doughton, Vice President Roden Wilkinson, Assistant Vice President Terryn Jones, Director of the President’s Office Heda Paisley, Director of Global Partnerships of the International Department Fan Fan, Regional Director of China Tao Wang, and head of cooperation among Chinese universities Xun Han, visited NNU. During the visit, the delegation attended the Education Cooperation Promotion meeting between NNU and MQU on the Xianlin Campus. President Guihong Hua, a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, Vice President Lianhong Zhang, and Vice President Linwang Yuan attended the meeting.

Hua warmly welcomed Bruce Doughton and other delegation members and expressed his heartfelt thanks to Macquarie University (MQU) for its long-standing support for the cooperation between the two universities. He mentioned that as early as 2001, NNU and MQU’s joint master’s degree program in economics has resulted in significant success in talent training and the cultivation of many well-known alumni in the field of economics. This program has become a classic example of China-Australia cooperation in running universities. In recent years, the two universities have made remarkable achievements in mutual credit recognition. Hua expressed NNU’s commitment to actively responding to the initiative of the United Nations Global Education Change Summit by further deepening the opening up of education and working closely with MQU to build a high-level education platform in the fields of statistics and environmental science. This collaboration aims to jointly cultivate exceptional and sustainable international talent. He hoped that both parties would engage in productive dialogue and work together to showcase the diverse features of joint scientific research and cultural exchange, promote exchanges and mutual learning, advance human civilization, and contribute to the high-quality development of global education.

Bruce Doughton thanked NNU for the warm reception and affirmed the strong partnership and deep friendship between the two universities. He highlighted the similarity in the schools’ philosophies, disciplinary direction, and talent training strategies, which he believes will lead to mutually beneficial outcomes in their new stage of cooperation.

During a keynote speech on “Deepening China-Australia Education Cooperation, Building a Better Vision for Development”, Yuan discussed the history, disciplinary advantages, and international cooperation and exchanges of NNU. He also explained the mission and vision of the in-depth cooperation platform built by the two universities.

Wilkinson said it was a great honor to visit NNU again and witness the substantial progress of the cooperation between the two universities. MQU would continue supporting and promoting collaboration between the two universities in personnel training, teacher exchanges, and scientific research.

During the meeting, the two universities signed agreements on inter-school cooperation and high-level talent training.

Subsequently, the delegation held a teaching breakout seminar with the heads of the School of Education, the School of Mathematics, the School of Accounting, and the School of Environment, and a breakout seminar on Foundation and alumni’s work with the Development Committee.

The delegation visited the Suiyuan and Xianlin Campuses, the Book Culture Exchange Center, the museum, the Wu Yifang Memorial Hall, and the Jingwen Library.

Heads of the University Office, the Department of Regulations, the Department of Academic Affairs, the Graduate School, the Department of Finance, the Development Committee, the Department of International Relations, and other departments attended the seminar.