The Opening Ceremony for the NUAA-CRANFIELD Aeronautical Engineering (Aerospace Manufacturing) Programme was held on October 8, 2019 at meeting room in 11th floor of administrative building. Professor Helen Valerie Atkinson who is Vice-president of Cranfield University, Professor Mark Roderic Jolly who is Dean of Manufacturing college of Cranfield, Professor Konstantinos Salonitis who is Head of Sustainable Manufacturing Systems Centre of Cranfield were invited to attend our ceremony. Professor Jiang Bin who is Vice-president of NUAA, and relevant responsible persons from International Cooperation Office, International Education, Graduate School, college of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of NUAA attended the ceremony. Professor Xu Zhengyang who is Deputy Dean of Graduate School hosted the ceremony.
On behalf of NUAA, Professor Jiang Bin expressed warm welcome to all the distinguished guests from Cranfield. He said that the NUAA-CRANFIELD Aeronautical Engineering (Aerospace Manufacturing) Programme has opened a new chapter for the in-depth cooperation between our two universities. He hopes that we will continue to deepen cooperation and further form an all-round, multi-level, wide-ranging and high-level international cooperation education.
Professor Helen Valerie Atkinson expressed her gratitude to NUAA’s warm welcome firstly. And she introduced Cranfield University in detail and said that this is the first cooperative education programme between Cranfield and a Chinese university. She hoped that the two universities could carry out more comprehensive and in-depth cooperation on this basis. Professor Mark Roderic Jolly mainly introduced the profile of Sustainable Manufacturing Systems Centre of Cranfield.
NUAA-CRANFIELD Aeronautical Engineering (Aerospace Manufacturing) Programme is aim to train engineers and managers in the aerospace manufacturing industry. 70 students applied for the programme, and many rounds of selection lasted for 3 months. 30 students were selected successfully with excellent comprehensive quality and became first students of the programme. As a student representative, Zhang Chufan delivered a speech in the opening ceremony.
After the ceremony, Professor Konstantinos Salonitis hosted the student orientation meeting. He exchanged and discussed with students from major, curriculum, teaching model and other aspects.
In the afternoon，The bilateral talks was held in the conference room of the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (CMEE). Professor Jiang Bin said that over the past 40 years the cooperation between NUAA and CRANFIELD has achieved fruitful results in student training, teachers exchange visits, scientific research and other aspects. He hoped that the two sides can further strengthen cooperation and make greater breakthroughs. Professor Helen Valerie Atkinson said Cranfield attached great importance to the cooperative relationship with NUAA and hoped that the two universities would continue to strengthen ties and explore new projects in talent development and academic collaboration. After consultation, both sides have reached consensus on carrying out more joint training programs for postgraduate double degree and doctoral double degree.
Professor Helen Valerie Atkinson with her team also visited the Advanced Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Research Center and other laboratories of CMEE.
The opening ceremony marks the substantial progress of the cooperation education between the two universities, which is a milestone in the process of international opening education of NUAA. The construction of Sino-foreign cooperative education programme will speed up the implementation of internationalization strategy, introduce foreign high-quality educational resources, optimize the teaching staff of our university, promote the all-round development of students, and improve the level of discipline and specialty. It is of great significance to promote the construction of double first-class university.
