On March 2, a delegation led by Councillor Zafar Iqbal, Lord Mayor of Birmingham, UK, visited SEU. Prof. Sun Youhong, SEU President and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, met with the delegation.

President Sun Youhong extended a warm welcome to Lord Mayor Zafar Iqbal on his first visit to SEU and provided an overview of the university. He noted that Birmingham and Nanjing officially became sister cities in 2022, and that SEU and the University of Birmingham have maintained a close cooperative relationship for nearly two decades, with broad prospects for collaboration across education, scientific research, and culture. He expressed his hope to further expand the scope and deepen the cooperation between the two universities and cities. On one hand, he proposed strengthening in-depth collaboration between SEU and the City of Birmingham, leveraging the university’s strengths in engineering disciplines and China’s industrial technology advantages to jointly establish a Sino-UK College forElite Engineers. On the other hand, he suggested enhancing cultural and artistic exchanges, promoting mutual visits and performances by youth art troupes from Birmingham and SEU, thereby contributing to people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and the UK.

Lord Mayor Zafar Iqbal stated that Birmingham greatly values its friendly relationship with Nanjing. He fully acknowledged SEU’s achievements and academic strengths, expressing his willingness to work with the university to advance cooperation between the two cities and institutions to deeper levels and broader fields.

Following the meeting, the delegation visited the Sipailou Campus and the Southeast University-University of Birmingham Joint Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering.Attendees at the meeting included Zhong Wenqi, Vice President ofSEU; representatives from the Foreign Affairs Office of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government and the Foreign Affairs Officeof Nanjing Municipal People’s Government; as well as representatives fromtheOffice of Scienceand Technology, the International Cooperation Department, the School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, School of Electrical Engineering, SEU and National Graduate College for Elite Engineers.

Source: International Cooperation Department, SEU

Translated by: Meody Zhang

Proofread by: Gao Min

Edited by: Leah Li