On the morning of July 11, 2016, the opening ceremony of the first international summer school of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture was held in the Second Classroom of Xicheng Campus of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. Vice President Wang Su, Vice President Li Aiqun, Dean of the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering Qi Chengzhi, Director of the Office of Academic Affairs Zou Jiting, Director of the International Cooperation and Exchange Office Zhao Xiaohong, associate dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning Ding Qi, and 229 teachers and students of international summer schools from 12 domestic and foreign universities attended the opening ceremony. Director of Office of Academic Affairs Zou Jiting presided over the opening ceremony.

First of all, Vice President Li Aiqun delivered a warm welcome speech. He expressed his sincere congratulations on the successful opening of the summer school and a warm welcome to students participating in the project from all countries. He pointed out that the opening of the first International School Summer of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture is a valuable opportunity to showcase the characteristics and advantages of the school's architecture discipline, implement the open education strategy, and extensively carry out international educational exchanges and cooperation. He also said that International Summer School will provide many international students with valuable opportunities to explore Chinese culture, which is conducive to the cross-cultural exchange and international development of higher education.

After watching the English promotional video of the school, Wu Shushan, a student from Class Water143 of the “2+2” project of our school’s Sino-US cooperative education, gave a speech on behalf of the students of the International Summer School. Wu Shushan believed that it is of great significance to participate in the first International Summer School, through which participants can study and experience the characteristics and advantages of the school’s architecture discipline, understand the international academic frontier trends in the field of architecture and civil engineering and broaden their horizons and meet more foreign friends as well.

Finally, Vice President Wang Su delivered a passionate concluding speech. Through his introduction, we learned that the development of the school is closely related to the transformation of Beijing. We has participated in each stage of the development from the traditional ancient city construction of Beijing to Capital modernization, and then to the future urban design. As a native of Beijing, he shared his understanding of the characteristics of Beijing: Beijing is a city featured by large number of “gates”, “bridges”, “altars” and “temples” with profound cultural heritage. He also called on all teachers and students of International Summer School to experience the charm of Beijing and witness the development of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture.

During this summer vacation, International Summer school has invited foreign teachers from the University of the West Scotland in the UK, Da-Yeh University in Taiwan, Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II in Italy and other first-class overseas universities, internationally famous architects, as well as domestic teachers such as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and “Changjiang Scholar” to give lessons. In terms of curriculum setting, we focus on the professional characteristics of architectural colleges and universities, and take count of capital culture and language exchanges, covering architecture, civil engineering, culture, communication and other fields. In addition to the regular courses, a variety of cultural practice activities are also arranged, so that students can understand and experience Chinese traditional and modern architecture.