A delegation led by Caroline Baylon, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement at the University of Reading, UK, visited Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) on March 26. Wu Lirui, Vice Chair of the University Council, met with the guests at the university’s Hongkou Campus. The two sides discussed the foundation of cooperation between the two universities, future areas for expansion, and the development of potential Chinese-foreign cooperative education programs. They reached broad consensus on multiple issues.
Wu extended a warm welcome to Baylon and her delegation on behalf of the university. He introduced SISU’s educational characteristics and international layout. He noted that SISU is a university directly under the Ministry of Education. It features multilingual education, internationalization, and new liberal arts as its core strengths. The university has already built stable partnerships with many renowned institutions worldwide. He pointed out that current China-UK education cooperation shows positive trends. SISU is willing to work with the University of Reading by leveraging respective disciplinary advantages. Cooperation will advance step by step from simpler to more complex areas. Joint training programs will be launched first, followed by gradual expansion to dual-degree programs and research collaboration. The two sides will jointly promote coordinated development in discipline building, talent cultivation, and scientific research.
Baylon thanked the university for its warm reception. She spoke highly of SISU’s academic strengths and international outlook. She noted that the University of Reading is a well-established research-intensive university in the UK. It has particular strengths in business, agriculture, and climate studies, and the university has a mature model of international education. It also has long-standing partnerships with a number of Chinese universities. Over the years, it has gained extensive experience in Chinese-foreign cooperative education. She added that the University of Reading has consistently regarded China as a key strategic partner. Baylon said the university attaches great importance to cooperation with SISU. She added that it is ready to advance collaboration in areas such as data science, law, and business. The goal is to accelerate the implementation of concrete initiatives.
Following the meeting, representatives of the two universities signed a memorandum of understanding. This marked the official opening of a new chapter in inter-university cooperation. Also attending the meeting were representatives from the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, the College for International Cooperative Programs, the School of Law, and the School of Business and Management at SISU.
