On the afternoon of December 2, 2022, a virtual signing ceremony of the cooperation agreement between the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (BUCEA) and Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) was successfully held. The ceremony was attended by Prof. ZHANG Dayu, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of BUCEA and President of BUCEA, Prof. LI Aiqun, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Committee of BUCEA and Vice President of BUCEA, Prof. Giuliano Noci, Vice-Rector for China of POLIMI, and relevant faculty and staff of both universities. Prof. JIANG Jie, Executive Dean of the International Development Research Institute (School of International Education) of BUCEA hosted the ceremony.
Prof. ZHANG Dayu noted that in recent years, BUCEA and POLIMI, as members of the Belt and Road Architectural University International Consortium (BRAUIC), have maintained close partnerships in various fields, laying a solid foundation for future cooperation. The two universities have jointly organized exchange programs for master students and doctoral students majoring in architecture and landscape architecture, built the International Joint Laboratory for Resilient and Smart Cities, and held the International Design Workshop, Beijing International Urban Design Forum, Belt and Road International Student Competition on Digital Architectural Design and Fifth Anniversary Commemorative Celebration of BRAUIC & Forum on Higher Education in Architecture. As BUCEA celebrates its 115th anniversary, BUCEA and POLIMI signed the new MOU with the expectation of carrying forward their time-honored friendship. Seizing the opportunity of jointly application for the international joint laboratory of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, the two universities will deepen cooperation and exchanges in architecture-related discipline development, scientific research, and talent training, and tap into the full potential of cooperation for common development.
Prof. Giuliano Noci spoke highly of the cooperation between BUCEA and POLIMI, saying that POLIMI’s in-depth cooperation with universities in China, predominantly with BUCEA, has long been its priority. Since the establishment of a partnership in 2018, the two universities have laid a sound foundation for cooperation and delivered fruitful outcomes. The friendship between BUCEA and POLIMI runs deep and allows the scope of cooperation to grow more extensive as the two universities carry out exchange programs for teachers, jointly train talents, build a joint laboratory and hold high-level international conferences. He also pointed out that the initiation of the registration of the international joint laboratory of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China represents a milestone in the two universities’ cooperation. Prof. Giuliano Noci is fully confident in and expects high of the way forward, hoping that the two universities could carry out mutually beneficial cooperation and complement each other’s strengths, scale up their respective influence in education and academia, so as to facilitate the exchanges and cooperation between China and Italy.
Prof. ZHANG Dayu, on behalf of BUCEA, signed the MOU. Based on the previous cooperation agreements at both university and school levels, the two sides had in-depth exchanges on many important issues, such as jointly advancing the registration of the international joint laboratory and promoting the high-quality development of BRAUIC.