Fan Lijun, Director of the Language Division of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), visited Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) on March 23. SISU President Meng Zhongjie met with him at the university’s Songjiang Campus. The two sides exchanged views on SISU’s efforts to reform translator and interpreter training, WIPO’s approach to developing talent in areas related to intellectual property law, and opportunities to deepen practical cooperation between the two institutions.
During the meeting, Fan outlined WIPO’s tiered language service model based on human-machine collaboration in response to the growing use of AI, and highlighted the essential role of translation and interpreting in the negotiation and drafting of multilateral treaties. He noted international organizations, such as WIPO, increasingly require language professionals with expertise not only in linguistics but also in fields such as law and international relations, placing new demands on training programs at partner universities. Fan also expressed WIPO’s willingness to facilitate closer engagement between the WIPO Academy and SISU in support of potential joint training initiatives.
Meng thanked WIPO for its long-standing support in providing SISU students with internship and practical training opportunities, and expressed appreciation for Fan’s insights into the AI-driven transformation of language services in international organizations. He noted that SISU is advancing reforms in translation teaching and practice through an integrated human-machine approach, while strengthening training in intellectual property law and in areas related to international organizations. He added that SISU is expanding cooperation with domestic and international universities and partner organizations to support the effective implementation of these initiatives.
Meng noted that SISU is advancing work on multilingual corpora, domain-specific large language models, and AI-enabled applications based on language data. He said the university looks forward to expanding cooperation with WIPO in areas such as curriculum development, terminology resources, and intellectual property-related training.
Also attending the meeting were Hu Kaibao, Assistant to the President of SISU and Dean of the Institute of Language Sciences; Zhang Ailing, Dean of the Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation (GIIT); Zhang Haibin, Dean of the Graduate School and the School of Law; Li Zhengren, Senior Advisor for GIIT Strategic Development; and Mao Xiaohong, Director of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange.
