On the afternoon of December 19th, the NJIT Educational Opening-up Conference took place in the Multi-Function Hall of Administrative Center, Zhiqin Building. Attendees online and offline included all university presidents, directors of functional departments, deans of secondary schools, international affairs staff, and representatives of global partner universities. The conference was presided over by Pu Lijie, Deputy Chairman of University Council.

This significant conference was held at a critical time as NJIT moves forward with educational opening-up to the outside world in the new circumstance. It aims to follow and manifest the spirit of the national goal on educational opening-up and systematically promote the overall deployment of “Outline of the 14th Five-Year Development Plan (2021-2025) and Vision 2035 of NJIT” and the sub-palnning for global development during the 14th Five Year Plan period.

“NJIT, embarking on internationallization since 1983, is among the first group of universities in Jiangsu Province and even in China to carry out international exchanges. However, we still have along way to go in the educational opening-up with challenges such as reluctance of students and faculty to pursue overseas communications and narrow-ranging international activities.” Shi Guojun, Chairman of University Council, made four calls for NJIT’s future internationalization strategy based on the actual situations of the university. First, further strengthen the idea of providing international education and gradually improve the system and mechanism of educational opening-up. It is necessary to fully recognize that internationalization is the essential characteristic and internal requirement of HEIs, firmly uphold the internationalization concept that adapts to the vision of a first-class application-oriented engineering university, integrate which into all aspects of the school development and establish efficient mechanism, and make comprehensice planning for internationallization at all levels. Second, further integrate resources and strive to promote the construction of a high-level international platform. It is necessary to give full play to the leading role of the Sino-foreign cooperative educational programs, improve the quality and level of the international scientific research platform, and actively enter into partnerships with high-level global partners by virtue of building up international disciplines, thus making NJIT more internationally competitive. Third, further improve quality and efficiency, and strive to turn NJIT into a new pacesetter for international teaching staff training and talent cultivation. It is necessary to continuously improve the effectiveness of international exchanges for teachers and students, encourage teachers to integrate international standard and global outlook into education and teaching by actively engaging in international academic forums, conferences and carrying out scientific research cooperation, and present to the world the fruit of NJIT’s talent cultivation through the broad exposure of students to international exchanges, so as to enhance the international popularity and reputation of NJIT. Fourth, further promote cohesive efforts in internationallization and strive to advance the educational opening-up to a new level. It is imperative to strengthen the organizational leadership in an all-round way, encourage the secondary schools to carry out international exchanges independently, vigorously create favorable in-campus conditions for international cooperation, practically enforce the assessment system, take solid steps to ensure implementation and achieve goals of high quality.

Shi Jinfei, Deputy Chairman of University Council and President of NJIT, delivered a keynote speech entitled “Pooling Strength and Will, Forging Ahead with Fortitude, Acting on the New Concept of Internationalization at Home and Fully Creating A New Landscape of Educational Opening-up”. In his report, President Shi summarized the achievements of NJIT’s international cooperation and exchanges in the past five years, pointed out aspects to be improved, analyzed the new situation and new tasks, and made clear the guiding principles, goals, major tasks and measures for educational opening-up in the new era. He said that despite difficulties and challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic to the educational opening-up, in the long run, China will always be committed to its fundamental national policy of opening fully to the outside world and education is no exception, so as NJIT will keep valuing internationalization in its voyage to a first-class engineering university with distinctove application-oriented characteristics. President Shi referred to the concept of “Internationalization at Home” in the report, an inspired combination of “internationalization” and “localization” to innovate the educational mode at home, in the hope of enriching the campus culture and boosting high-quality development of the university, which is considered as strong support for the long-term goal of NJIT.

Mr. Gao Zhongyi, Director of the Chinese Office of Woosong University (Korea), and Mr. Zhang Teng, Assistant to the Principal of Krirk University (Thailand), delivered speeches online on behalf of NJIT’s global partner universities. Deans of the School of Electric Power Engineering and the School of Art and Design made respective presentations on the development of their internationalization endeavours.

The conference also witnessed the online signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Collaborative Postgraduate Programs between NJIT and four overseas partner universities, including the University of Strathclyde, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), Woosong University and Krirk University, marking the official inauguration of the collaborative international educational programs on graduate level. UWTSD entrusted Prof. Zhu Xiaochun, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of NJIT, to present a letter of appointment to Prof. Zheng Jing, Dean of the School of Art and Design, as an adjunct doctoral supervisor of UWTSD.

At the end of the conference, Chairman Shi Guojun announced the official launch of NJIT’s English website. It is said that the website, led by the Office of International Cooperation and Exchanges, is the work of joint efforts of the Publicity Office of the CPC NJIT Committee, the Office of Information Technology and Management and other relevant offices and secondary schools. It will serve as the digital platform for comprehensive information and services for alumni, faculty, and the society, showcasing the highlights and characteristics of NJIT’s internationalization.