On the morning of April 27, 2022, a virtual signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (BUCEA) and NewSchool of Architecture & Design (NSAD) was successfully held. ZHANG Dayu, President of BUCEA, LI Aiqun, Vice President of BUCEA, Gisela Loehlein, President of NSAD, Kevin Derrivan, Chief Coordination Officer of NSAD, and relevant staff members of both universities, attended the meeting.

ZHANG Dayu extended thanks to NSAD for its support to BUCEA and the Belt and Road Architectural University International Consortium (BRAUIC). He pointed out that the university sets “training planners, designers and architects for the future” as the basis of its high-quality connotative development and attaches great importance to cultivating innovation capacity and practical spirit of students. He hoped that both universities, with the MOU being a momentum, can leverage respective advantages and carry out practical cooperation in joint cultivation, course design and management, and R&D innovation, so as to make greater contributions to the development of BRAUIC and the training of outstanding international talents.

Gisela Loehlein made a brief introduction of NSAD’s history, majors and status of international exchanges. She mentioned that NSAD, as a leading private university of architecture and design in the U.S. and even around the world, has trained a large amount of leading professional architects and designers. Besides, she expressed her anticipation to the cooperation between both universities and hoped that the signed MOU could facilitate the cooperation. BUCEA and NSAD, with the BRAUIC as a platform, will boost activities such as exchanges among teachers and students, joint cultivation of students, collaboration on researches and workshops held by both sides. With these efforts, the two universities will complete each other’s advantages, share resources and achieve win-win results.

Then both universities discussed the cooperation plans in jointly cultivating students, launching international summer schools and workshops, and working together to promote high-quality development of the BRAUIC and other fields.

NewSchool of Architecture & Design (NSAD), established in 1980, is a leading private university of architecture, engineering and design in the US and around the world. The academic degrees NSAD confers are recognized across U.S. and by the Ministry of Education of the P.R.C, and the university has obtained accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). It is located in the center of San Diego, a coastal city in the State of California. As one of America’s top private schools of architecture, NSAD has trained a large amount of leading professional architects and designers for the world, with its graduates and alumni engaging in well-known international enterprises such as Gensler and HDR.

NSAD joined the Belt and Road Architectural University International Consortium (BRAUIC) in 2021.