On June 6, Principle Guo Dongming met with André Carroll, President of Belarusian State University in Room 312 of the main building. Both sides further exchanged opinions on the establishment of the joint school between Belarusian State University and Dalian University of Technology, and then they signed a supplementary agreement on cooperation on this item. Vice Principle Zhu Hong, Principle Assistant Luo Zhongxuan, and officials from the Academic Affairs Office, the International Cooperation and Exchange Office, the International Education Institute, the Sino-Belarusian School, and other officials accompanied the meeting.
Principle Guo Dongming welcomed President Carroll’ s visit and stated that the Sino-Belarusian College was highly valued by the two governments and was the first joint institution established under the background of the national “the Belt and Road” initiative. Moreover, it was also another important result of the long-time close cooperation between DUT and Belarusian State University. The Sino-Belarusian School and the establishing Belarus-China School have created a new model of the development of the international joint school. They were full of vigor and vitality and have broad development prospects. It was believed that with the joint efforts of the two universities, the joint school would surely become the example in the cooperation in running schools between China and Belarus in the future, and it was hoped to make contributions to the development of “the Belt and Road” initiate and both China and Belarus.
President Carroll stated that DUT was an important strategic partner of BSU and both sides have formed a very good tradition of cooperation over the years and have achieved many substantial cooperation results. The Belarusian State University attached great importance to cooperation with the DUT and was looking forward to the joint school. He hoped that this visit would further expand the scope of cooperation and promote the development of the Sino-Belarusian School and the Belarus-China School, and cultivate more hierarchical composite talents with high international perspectives.
At the meeting, the two sides also exchanged views on the expansion of professional cooperation in humanities and social sciences, distance education cooperation, establishment of postgraduate training grounds, promotion of multidisciplinary scientific research, and promotion of multilateral cooperation.
After the meeting, the first meeting of the Management Committee of Sino-Belarusian School was held in Room 512 in the main building. At the meeting, Ji Shunying, Director of the Sino-Belarusian School, reported on the basic construction, enrollment and teaching, student work, financial status, existing problems, and future work plans over the past year of the school. The two sides conducted in-depth discussions on further expanding the cooperation specialty of the Sino-Belarusian School, strengthening the curriculum construction, improving the quality of personnel training, and the preparation of the China-Belarus School.
During the visit, President Carroll and his team met with the teachers of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and also the students of the Sino-Belarusian School. Finally, President Carroll gave them a speech.
It was reported that in 2017, the Joint School held by both Dalian University of Technology and Belarusian State University (abbreviated as the Sino-Belarusian School) enrolled 79 undergraduate students in the first year, including two majors in Department of Engineering Mechanics and School of physics. After graduation, these students could have corresponding degree certificates from both Dalian University of Technology and Belarusian State University.
