Cai Led A Delegation to US, Peru, and Brazil to Advance International Exchange and Cooperation

From September 20 to 29, Vice President Cai Yonglian of the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST) led a delegation on a visit to the United States of America, Peru, and Brazil. The delegation engaged in international cooperation and exchange activities with multiple universities and relevant educational institutions. Accompanying the visit were directors of the Department of Physical Education and the Sino-British College, along with relevant personnel from the International Affairs Office. This visit closely aligned with the university's goal of achieving high-quality development in internationalization, aiming to build diverse international cooperation bridges and facilitate substantive, high-level collaborations between universities and enterprises.
During the visit in the U.S.A., the delegation focused on advancing the work of Hujiang International Cross-Cultural Exchange Center (Overseas Office), USST and expanding cooperation with the San Francisco Bay Area Council in education, technology, and talent development. At the unveiling ceremony for the “Hujiang International Cross-Cultural Exchange Center (Overseas Office),” Cai Yonglian emphasized that the overseas office must fully leverage its role as a bridge and window. It should take proactive initiatives in key areas such as advancing the YES Program and promoting international student recruitment, providing robust support for refining the university's international talent cultivation system and expanding high-quality student enrollment. This will help establish the office as a “frontline base” for the university's overseas exchange and cooperation. The delegation subsequently visited the San Francisco Bay Area Council, touring its offices to gain an in-depth understanding of its functions and resource network. They engaged in substantive discussions with the Council's Senior Vice President of Global Affairs, Jennifer Zou, and Chief Executive Officer John Grubb and their teams. Cai Yonglian noted that the San Francisco Bay Area concentrates abundant innovation resources from universities and enterprises. She expressed hope to leverage the Commission's professional platform advantages to explore long-term cooperation opportunities with Bay Area universities and businesses in areas such as collaborative academic research and deep integration of industry-academia-research, achieving resource sharing and mutual benefit.

During their stay in San Francisco, the delegation visited Foothill College, located in the birthplace of Silicon Valley. As one of the top community colleges in the United States, its distinctive strengths had been highlighted by President Kristina Whalen: leveraging its credit transfer agreements with multiple California universities, the college serves as a vital “stepping stone” for students aspiring to transfer to prestigious universities. Through discussions and site visits, the delegation gained a systematic understanding of the college's educational philosophy, disciplinary structure, and talent development model. Both parties engaged in in-depth consultations on potential collaboration areas, reaching preliminary agreements on joint summer school programs and exploratory partnerships. These initiatives aim to establish more flexible and expansive pathways for academic advancement and further education for our students. Subsequently, during the visit to the University of San Francisco, the delegation received a warm welcome from Professor Yang Xiaohua, Director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Innovation and Management, and her team. Both parties focused on four core areas: jointly operating summer schools, co-hosting international academic conferences, exchanging sports programs, and implementing joint faculty-student cultivating initiatives. They systematically reviewed cooperation details and clarified implementation pathways for each item. These discussions further refined the international collaboration framework between the two universities, laying a solid foundation for the efficient execution of future cooperative projects and enhancing the effectiveness of their partnership.

Following this, the delegation traveled to Los Angeles, USA, to visit our partner institution, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Under the progress plan for the previously signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two universities, the delegation held specialized discussions focusing on current challenges. They engaged in in-depth exchanges with Jennifer Dixon, the project leader at UCLA, regarding specific implementation plans for the summer study tour program, including curriculum design, itinerary arrangements, and safety measures. Cai Yonglian emphasized the need to further align the MOU signing process with study tour preparations to ensure orderly progress and deliver high-quality international exchange experiences for faculty and students.

Following the U.S. itinerary, the delegation proceeded to Peru and Brazil in South America. At Peru's Universidad de Piura, President Justo Paul Ivan Corcuera Garcia, accompanied by Vice President Susana Vegas Chiyon and relevant department heads, warmly received the delegation. During the friendly talks, both parties renewed their cooperation agreement. President Justo Paul Ivan Corcuera Garcia emphasized the university's consistent commitment to friendly relations with China and its strong desire for educational collaboration. He expressed hope to deepen cooperation in areas such as AI education and industry-academia integration. Cai Yonglian expressed her hope that the renewal of this cooperation agreement would serve as a new starting point to advance substantive collaboration between the two universities in areas such as academic and research partnerships among faculty and students, as well as the joint establishment of summer schools. This initiative aims to deepen and solidify educational and cultural exchanges between China and Peru.

During the visit to Universidade de São Paulo, the delegation signed a cooperation agreement with Ricardo Trindade, Dean of the university's China Center, formally launching a new chapter in collaboration between the two universities. São Paulo University has established dedicated funding channels for international exchange programs, including faculty and student exchanges, summer study tours, and joint laboratory development, providing robust support for collaborative initiatives. Both parties agreed to leverage their respective disciplinary strengths to focus future collaboration on academic research and joint cultivation of high-level talent in STEM fields. This will promote deep integration of industry, academia, and research, achieving precise alignment between disciplinary development and industrial needs. During the visit, the delegation also toured the Naval Architecture Laboratory to learn about the university's research platform development and progress.

Through this visit to the Americas, our university has further expanded its international cooperation network with the United States in the new era. It has also established a new platform for educational collaboration in South America, introducing high-quality educational resources and cooperative opportunities into the university's international development system. This injects new momentum into the high-quality development of the university's internationalization efforts, helping cultivate more high-caliber innovative talents with a global perspective and a thorough understanding of international rules.