From 6th - 13th August, “The Future of Sustainable Building: Innovation and Collaboration” Global Project-Based Learning (GPBL) was successfully held at the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) in Indonesia. This event was jointly organized by ITS, the Belt and Road Architectural University International Consortium (BRAUIC), and KONE Corporation.
As an integral part of the Global Campus - Summer School Exchange Program and an international student competition initiated by the BRAUIC, the event consisted of various activities such as course learning, exchanges, and project design competitions. The delegation from BUCEA consisted of 8 students from the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering and the School of Urban Economics and Management and was led by HUANG Xing from the International Development Research Institute. They participated in the event and had exchanges with 50 teachers and students from 10 universities in China, Germany, Greece, and Indonesia. The delegation achieved excellent results, winning both the first place and the third place.
The “Course Learning” part included academic lectures on topics like Surabaya’s infrastructure and architectural development, the past and future of KONE, and approaches and methods for green building solutions. The exchange activities included canvas workshops, face-to-face meetings with Surabaya’s municipal institutions, site visits to residential hotels and technological innovation centers, and experiential activities of Indonesian traditional martial arts and the Indonesian language.
After going through online preliminary rounds, academic lectures, on-site research, group presentations, and defenses, three were selected out of the 10 participating teams. The first and third places went to BUCEA, with the second place going to the team composed of students from HTWG Konstanz - University of Applied Sciences in Germany, Shandong Jianzhu University in China, and ITS in Indonesia.
FAN Kai and LI Yufeng from the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering of BUCEA teamed up with Pelangi, Maya, and Farhan from ITS to formulate a proposal that received unanimous praise from the judges, earning them the first-place position.
Another team consisting of ZHENG Liang and XING Tianyu from the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering of BUCEA, together with Taffy, Fatimah, and Axel from ITS, secured the third place.
BUCEA students making presentations at the closing ceremony
Academic lectures and site visits
Wonderful exchange activities
Visiting Mr. Mochamad, President of ITS
HUANG Xing delivered speeches during the opening and closing ceremonies on behalf of BUCEA and the BRAUIC, and held in-depth discussions with Mr. Mochamad, President of ITS, and ITS heads of the academic research and social service center, regarding joint talent cultivation, research cooperation, alliance building, and preparations for the upcoming annual BRAUIC Conference and Education Forum scheduled at ITS in November this year.
Visits and discussions regarding international cooperation
As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative and the 6th anniversary of the establishment of the BRAUIC in 2023, BUCEA sent its first student exchange delegation in three years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This serves as a valuable attempt for us to summarize the achievements of educational cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative and to plan for the future in terms of talent cultivation in the field of architecture. This event holds significant importance in enhancing our students’ participation in international academic exchange activities, improving their cross-cultural communication skills, and enhancing their international competitiveness. Furthermore, this event will promote the exchange and cooperation among the architecture universities in the Belt and Road countries, showcasing the increasing international influence of the BRAUIC and promoting scientific and technological innovation and international cultural exchange among Belt and Road students.