On the afternoon of September 7, the School-Opening Ceremony of the 2012 graduate students of Southeast University-Monash University Joint Graduate School(Suzhou) was solemnly held at Suzhou Research Institute of SEU. People who attended this ceremony included Mr. Shen Jiong-Vice-President of SEU, Tam Sridhar-Vice-Chancellor of Monash University, and some other leaders from SEU Graduate School, Suzhou Research Institute of SEU and relevant departments involved in school leadership. Besides, over 100 new graduate students attended the ceremony which was presided over by Mr. Zhang Weigong-Executive Vice-Dean of Suzhou Research Institute of SEU.
Mr. Shen Jiong-Vice-President of SEU delivered the first speech in which he reviewed the developing history of SEU in the past 110 years, SEU's school-running concept and its achievements so far. In his speech, Mr. Shen Jiong also encouraged the graduate students to love the school, work hard and then contribute to the society with excellent performance. Following Mr. Shen Jiong, Tam Sridhar-Vice-Chancellor of Monash University, in his speech described the development and construction of the Monash University and expressed his great confidence and expectations in establishing the Southeast University-Monash University Joint Graduate School(Suzhou). He said, he hoped that the Joint Graduate School would train more and more high-level personnel. The 2011 and 2012 student representatives also spoke at the ceremony.
It is learned that the Southeast University-Monash University Joint Graduate School(Suzhou) was set up on March 29 this year after the formal approval of the Ministry of Education. This Joint Graduate School is China's first Sino-foreign graduate school with cooperation in running schools. The Graduate School mainly accepts master's students and PhD candidates, and has so far offered courses in three majors namely Computer Technology, Industrial Design and Transportation Engineering. In the near future, it plans to open courses in the following majors: Applied Linguistics, Public Health, International Business, Environment Science, Biological Engineering, etc. The scale of development is expected to include 1500 people. The 46,000 square meters of teaching and research venue provided by Suzhou local government will be officially put into use in June, 2013.
