On the morning of June 9, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (BUCEA) held an internationalization planning consultation, where over ten academicians from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, experts and industry leaders were invited to offer advice and suggestions for the development of internationalization of BUCEA in the 14th Five-Year Plan.
Peng Yongzhen, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Professor of Beijing University of Technology; Chen Jun, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and First Vice President of ISPRS; Li Pengde, Co-Chair of UN-GGIM and Member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC; Yu Haiyong, Vice Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal Government; Xiu Long, President of the Architectural Society of China; Song Chaozhi, President of the Chinese Society of Geodesy Photogrammetry and Cartography; Wu Gang, Vice President of Southeast University; and Gu Xingfa, Deputy Secretary-General of the Asian Association on Remote Sensing and Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics; Liu Dake, Executive Vice President of GNNS & LBS Association of China (GLAC), Li Ming'an, Secretary General of China Civil Engineering Society, Wang Zengning, Secretary General of China Association of Geospatial Information Society (CAGIS), Yan Lijin, Chairman of China Silk Road Group Limited, and Wang Yuxiang, Chairman of PIESAT, etc. attended the event as consultant experts. BUCEA’s leaders Jiang Zeting, Zhang Ailin, Zhang Dayu and Li AIQUN as well as heads of functional departments and secondary schools attended the event. The consultation conference was hosted by Vice President Zhang Dayu.
Academician Peng Yongzhen pointed out that the current international circumstances were complicated, with Western countries represented by the U.S. launching all-round science and technology competition with China, and China was facing unprecedented development challenges.The internationalization work of BUCEA should rely on the resources and policy guidance of the Beijing Municipal Government, strengthen the integration of departments, accumulate the " high-end international elements" of science and technology, absorb the advanced concepts of foreign education institutions, and adhere to the principle of "Giving Priority to Quality Instead of Quantity in International Projects" to promote internationalization. BUCEA should also strive to train international students to be acquainted with Chinese culture and to be proficient in expressing academic opinions in Chinese. He hoped that BUCEA would build a platform for the International Development Research Institute (IDRI) in order to provide new solutions to the internationalization of education under the current new situations.
Academician Chen Jun believed that the internationalization efforts were closely related to the development of BUCEA, and should be done with long-term visions and long-term effects. Academician Chen stated that three elements should be clarified for internationalization: First, strengthen the understanding of the connotation of "internationalization", that is, learn to "use international language to narrate the Chinese stories" in international communication and cooperation; second, fully explore high-level international partners and carry out scientific research cooperation at an international level; third, establish an international leading academic orientation. BUCEA should attempt to promote the integration of surveying, mapping and geomatics with architectural planning majors, jointly establish the ISPRS workstation, and actively participate in UNESCO's information network platform to promote outstanding Chinese scientific and technological achievements to the world.
Yu Haiyong, Vice Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, delivered a speech in which he introduced the work carried out by Beijing in implementing the function of "International Exchange Center" and expressed his intention to strengthen support and resource cooperation for the international development of BUCEA. He hoped that BUCEA would be closely integrated with the internationalization strategy of Beijing and be an important fulcrum in the orientation of Beijing to be "An International Communication Center".
On behalf of BUCEA, Jiang Zeting expressed his gratitude to the experts for their valuable suggestions and opinions on the Internationalization of BUCEA, and stated that the Conference was fruitful as a conference of "Mutual Integration and Insights". In combination with the current conditions and characteristics of BUCEA featuring "A Century Old University with Thousand Mu Campus and Ten Thousand Student Size", and facing the future development demands, BUCEA will focus on improving the hard power of scientific and technological innovation, the soft power of building virtues and educating people, and the governance ability of school running, to build a high level and distinctive leading university of municipality level. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, BUCEA will build three research institutes of the Institute of Science and Technology Development, the International Development Research Institute and the Institute of Cultural Development, which will become the three major driving forces and engines leading the development ofBUCEA. In terms of promoting the internationalization of BUCEA, he raised three points: First, grasp the "general trends", understand that internationalization is both "seeking development" and " seeking survival", and the construction of the university should be highly consistent with the development demands of the country, the capital and the industry; second, integrate into the "General Landscape", into the development of the national Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of the construction of the capital orientation of "An International Communication Center"; third, integrate "General Resources" to build BUCEA into an international high-level talent training base, an international science and technology innovation base, and a demonstration and leading base for international exchange and cooperation by closely focusing on the demands of urban planning, design, construction and operation management. In the future, BUCEA would carry out a series of efforts to promote the internalization progress, and he hoped that all experts would continue to give their opinions and supports.
Zhang Ailin expressed the warm welcome and heartfelt appreciation to the guests, and briefly introduced the history of development, features and orientation of BUCEA to the experts. He mentioned that BUCEA adhered to the orientation of a high level university featuring "Full of Beijing Characteristics" and "Full of Architecture Characteristics", and strive to build a high level, open and innovative university with distinctive architectural characteristics of domestically leading and internationally renowned. BUCEA initiated the Belt and Road Architectural University Institutional Consortium to turn the initiative into actions and the visions into reality, build a high-level international academic exchange and cooperation platform for architecture colleges and universities, actively promote international talent attraction, and cooperate with colleges and universities along the "Belt and Road" in fields such as discipline and professional construction, talent training model, scientific and technological innovation research, exchange and visit of teachers as well as service infrastructure construction. He hoped that the experts would take the future-oriented, problem-oriented and demand-oriented pulse for internationalization operation, and make suggestions on the demand for construction talents, internationalization of discipline and professional construction, innovation of international exchange mechanism, international vision and capacity building of teachers and teams.
At the event, Li Aiqun introduced The 14th Five-Year Plan for Internationalization of BUCEA (Exposure Draft). Other experts present at the Conference proposed that the university should continue to build the Belt and Road Architectural University Institutional Consortium based on the perspectives of their respective industries, and take this as the main orientation to focus on the internal and external demands of the university for development and international exchange. Efforts should be made to strengthen the research on international development strategies of the construction industry, reinforce the training of talents who are familiar with international rules and regulations, intensify the participation in the activities of international academic organizations, actively promote the combination of professional construction and international professional certification, establish an appropriate internationalization assessment system, integrate the international resources of Beijing, build an international industry-university-research cooperation platform in collaboration with schools and enterprises, participate in international cooperation projects, and jointly organize personnel training and academic activities. And efforts should also be made to make the best use of internationalization development to enhance the school running characteristics and standards of BUCEA.
Prior to the Consultation Conference, the experts visited the Library, the Key Laboratory of the School of Geomatics and Urban Spatial Informatics, the Large Multifunctional Vibrating Array Laboratory, the Gymnasium and other facilities.
Editor: Li Xiaohu