In the afternoon of November 21, on the occasion of celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of the School of Architecture of Southeast University, the university held the unveiling ceremony of the Architecture Internationalization Demonstration School of SEU in Chunhui hall of Sipailou campus. Yi Fanping, the deputy director of State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, Cuan Haichun, the director of Planning Office of Department of Cultural and Educational Experts of State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs,Wanshan Junfu, the executive vice president of Tokyo Institute of Technology, Zhang Guangjun, the president of Southeast University, Wang Baoping, the executive vice president, and David Leatherbarrow, the dean of the Architecture Internationalization Demonstration School, and foreign experts attended the unveiling ceremony.
At the ceremony, president Zhang Guangjun issued the letter of appointment to three foreign full-time professors and four foreign visiting professors.President Zhang Guangjun and the deputy director of State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs Yi Fanping, jointly unveiled the Architecture Internationalization Demonstration School.
On behalf of the university, President Zhang Guangjun expressed welcome and appreciation to the leaders and guests attending the meeting.He also congratulated the School of Architecture for its brilliant achievements in the past 90 years and the establishment of the Architecture Internationalization Demonstration School. He said, under the background of the new era, the SAFEA and the Ministry of Education jointly launched and implemented the plan of the Internationalization Demonstration School, which has made positive progress in promoting the comprehensive reform and the connotative development of higher education, and also provided important opportunities for universities to promote the internationalization of Chinese characteristics. The unveiling of the Architecture Internationalization Demonstration School of Southeast University is an important historical node and a new starting point for future challenges. The school will strongly support the development of the School of Architecture, and we hope that the school will adhere to the spirit of inheritance, development and transcendence,to strive to build a internationalized school with Chinese characteristics, and to cultivate leading talentswithpatriotic feelings and international vision and lead the future and benefit mankind, and to make the Chinese architecture culture stand on the international front. He hopes that the school willcreate a demonstration road with Chinese characteristics and make great contribution to the construction of world-class universities and first-class disciplines.
Yi Fanping, the deputy director of SAFEA, congratulated the program of the Architecture Internationalization Demonstration School of Southeast University. He said that since 2014, the SAFEA and the Ministry of Education have jointly launched the program of Internationalization Demonstration School. Up to now, there are 4 batches of 17 colleges which have been established due to the program, and the School of Architecture of Southeast University isthe only pilot unit of architecture discipline. He hoped that the School of Architecture of Southeast University could take the opportunity to carry out teaching environment construction according to international standards under the strong support of SEU and the joint efforts of the teachers and students of the whole university, in order to realize the internationalization of teaching and management, the connection of concept, rules, culture with the international world. He hops the school to face the international front, the One Belt And One Road national strategy and the new urbanization development strategy, and cultivate professional talents with both local awareness and international vision, strive to build an international standard of education with international standards and Chinese characteristics, and explore the beneficial experience for the internationalization of higher schools in China.
David Leatherbarrow, the dean of the international demonstration academy of architecture, said that he was honored to work with the outstanding faculty and students of the School of Architecture of Southeast University and serve as the dean of the Architecture Internationalization Demonstration School. He has expressed his affirmation of the developmentof the School of Architecture in the past 90 years, and also proposed that the Internationalization Demonstration School will focus on the development of theory and culture of design from aspects of the particularity and uniqueness of architecture of SEU, the integration of design and theory, and construction and site.
Since last April, Southeast University has attached great importance to and strongly supported the application of the School of Architecture to carry out the Architecture Internationalization Demonstration School. Under the strong support of the SAFEA and the ministry of education, the pilot project was finally approved in June and started construction. At present, Southeast University has hired professorDavid Leatherbarrow as the dean, professor Maojing Xiuyi as vice president, professor Xia Zhu Jiu and other two foreign experts as full-time professors. At the same time, the school also hired professor Xia Nan Xi, professor Aoshan Xinyi, professor Ronald Venus and Mark Trisciuoglio who worked with our school for a long time to be the visiting professors.
