On November 28^th, the 20^th Anniversary Development Conference of the JUST—La Trobe University (LTU) Cooperation was held at JUST. Ru Yixian, Deputy Director of Division of International Cooperation and Exchanges of the Jiangsu Education Department, Lu Lilin, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Zhenjiang City, Amalia Di Iorio, Vice Chancellor of LTU, Zhou Honggen, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC JUST Committee and Vice President of JUST, and Cui Yong, Director of the International Office of JSU, attended the conference. More than 200 leaders, faculty and students from various departments and schools, including the Student Affairs Office, Academic Affairs Office, International Office, School of Economics and Management and other departments, attended the conference. The conference was presided over by Wang Yuxin, Director of the International Office.

Vice President Zhou Honggen, on behalf of JUST, extended a warm welcome to the Chinese and foreign guests attending the event and provided a comprehensive review and summary of the achievements JUST has made in the field of Sino-foreign cooperative education. He pointed out that over the past 20 years, JUST has cultivated a large number of outstanding internationalized talent through Sino-foreign cooperative education programs, which has greatly promoted international scientific research cooperation, and formed a distinctive Sino-foreign cooperative education brand with unique educational characteristics. He emphasized that the internationalization of education is an important initiative for higher education to cope with the trend of globalization, and high-quality Sino-foreign cooperative education is the path JUST must take to achieve connotative development. Therefore, JUST should strengthen the analysis of the status quo, seize the opportunity for higher education to open up and make full use of the advantages of cooperation to strive to build an advantageous brand of Sino-foreign cooperative education with international competitiveness.

Amalia Di Iorio, Vice Chancellor of LTU, reviewed the 20-year history of cooperation education between the two universities, fully affirming the firm support received by the Sino-Australian programs, the selfless dedication of the faculty and staff, and the far-reaching impact on the cultivation of international talents. She stated that LTU would further deepen its partnership with the Chinese side and be committed to exploring broader development opportunities for students, ensuring that the Sino-Australian programs maintain leading position in the global education field.

 Cui Yong, Director of the International Office of JSU, highly praised the remarkable achievements of our university’s Sino-Australian Cooperative Education programs, hoping to further promote in-depth communication and cooperation between JUST and JSU in the field of international education cooperation.

Li Jiawei, the representative of the outstanding graduates of the Sino-Australian programs in 2005, expressed his sincere gratitude to his alma mater for its nurturing. He mentioned that his study experience at JUST laid a solid academic foundation for him and helped him cultivate a diligent and enterprising character. The study experience in Australia further broadened his international vision and helped him enhance himself. He encouraged his juniors to actively participate in the cooperative education programs, make full use of the platforms and opportunities provided by the programs, and promote the enhancement of their personal abilities.

Ru Yixian, Deputy Director of the Division of International Cooperation and Exchanges of the Jiangsu Education Department, stated in her speech that over the past 20 years, the Sino-Australian Cooperative Education programs of JUST has achieved remarkable success. She encouraged JUST to seize the opportunity to further deepen cooperation and exchanges with Australian universities, continuously expand the scope of cooperation, enrich the connotation of cooperation, and achieve more fruitful results in curriculum co-construction, scientific research cooperation, and faculty-student exchanges. She stated that efforts should be made to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with universities of other countries and regions worldwide, introduce more high-quality educational resources, and enable JUST to shine on the broad stage of international education.

At the conference, a signing ceremony for memorandum of understanding on cooperation was held, during which the two universities from China and Australia established their intention to collaborate on an undergraduate-to-master’s credit articulation program in information technology.

During the award ceremony, Ge Shilun, former Secretary of CPC JUST Committee, and Amalia Di Iorio, Vice Chancellor of LTU, were awarded the Special Contribution Award. Zhang Guangming, former Director of the International Office and Secretary of CPC Committee of the School of Economics and Management, and Liu Jun, CEO of Shanghai Yucui Education Consulting Co., Ltd., were awarded the Management Excellence Award. Three teachers from the School of Economics and Management, Yao Huili, Zhang Xuejun and Dong Liang, were awarded the Outstanding Teacher Award. Ru Yixian, Deputy Director of Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges of the Jiangsu Education Department, Lu Lilin, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Zhenjiang City, and Wang Nianxin, Dean of the School of Economics and Management, presented the awards to the winners respectively.  

The conference also planned parallel forum sessions on face-to-face discussions with outstanding alumni and guidance on study abroad planning, which attracted more than 200 students to participate enthusiastically.

During the event, JUST and LTU also held the 2024 Joint Management Committee Meeting of Sino-Australian Cooperative Education. After the meeting, participants visited the university’s history museum.