On the morning of September 16, Richard A. Williams, President of Heriot-Watt University(UK), led a 11-member delegation to visitXSYU. The two parties held a symposium at Yanta Campus, focusing on deepening cooperation in multiple fields including “3+1”joint training program for bachelor’s and master’s degree talents,collaborative scientific research innovation, and teacher-student exchanges.ThePresident Wang Jinfu attended the meeting.
Wang Jinfu warmly welcomed President Richard A. Williams and hisdelegation. He first reviewed the friendly communication process between the two universities in the early stage, and then briefly introduced the history, discipline characteristics and international development statusof Xi’an Shiyou University. He said that Heriot-Watt University has an excellent reputation in the fields of energy, mathematics&computerscience, engineering construction, and has accumulated rich experience in international education and integration of industry, academia and research,all of which are highly aligned with Xi’an Shiyou University’s disciplinary layout and development vision.He emphasized that he expects the two universities to carry out multi-level and wide-ranging practical cooperation in the future, to jointly address the challenges and opportunities brought by global energy transition and the technological revolution.Specifically, the cooperation will focus on three aspects:firstly, accelerate the implementation of the“3+1” joint training program for bachelor’s and master’s degree talents,set up a special working group,refine the credit recognition mechanism for cooperative majors,improve the model for selecting high-quality students and the fund policy guarantee mechanism,andstrive to send the first batch of students to study abroad in the autumn of 2026;secondly, strengthen international scientific research cooperation,establish collaborativescientific research teams,make joint applicationsfor international scientific research projects, explore ways to share experimental facilities and resources, and jointly build an international energy innovation platform; thirdly, enhance cultural exchanges between the two sides, expand the scale of scientific research exchanges between teachers and students, and deepen mutual cultural understanding, cooperation and mutual trust.
Richard A. Williams expressed his gratitude for the warm reception of our university and briefly introduced the academic characteristics, international campus layout and global cooperation achievements of Heriot-Watt University. He said that promoting intercultural education cooperation and cultivating interdisciplinary talents capable of addressing global challenges are the common goals of both universities, and Heriot-Watt University attaches great importance to cooperation with Xi’an Shiyou University. He stressed that he was willing to work with ouruniversityto refine the implementation plan of the “3+1”programand promote the early completion of the program, and looked forward to substantive cooperation between the two sides in strengthening interdisciplinary scientific research cooperation in energy, artificial intelligence, infrastructure construction and other fields, as well as expanding the scale of teacher-student exchanges.
At the meeting, Dong Hao, Director of the International Cooperation and Exchange Office and Dean of the College of International Education, gave a detailed introduction to theuniversity’s discipline construction, current situation of international exchanges and future cooperation goals. On the British side, the Vice President of Heriot-Watt University’s Malaysian Campus and the Vice Dean of its School of Computer Science respectively explained the talent cultivation model, professional features of the Malaysian Campus, and the characteristics of the School of Computer Science. The two sides conducted in-depth discussions on joint talent training, collaborative scientific research innovation, and reached a consensus on specific issues including the connection of student management, enrollment plans, and scholarship settings.
Subsequently, the two sides held a ceremony for the exchange of the agreement text for the joint cultivation cooperation program.
After the symposium, heads of functional departments and schools from both universities held a series of special docking meetings focusing on petroleum engineering, computerscience andtechnology, civil engineering, business administration and foreign languages.Theyconducted in-depth exchanges on issues such as the connection of the joint cultivation curriculum system and English teaching support.
The two sides will carry out further consultations on key links such as enrollment promotion, refinement of training programs, sharing of teaching resources andtheestablishment of scientific research teams, so as to inject new vitality into international energy science and technology cooperation as well as Sino-British educational and cultural exchanges.
Leaders from relevantdepartments ofXSYUattended the above activities, including the Academic Affairs Office, International Cooperation and Exchange Office, College of Petroleum Engineering, School of Computer Science, College of Pipeline Engineering, School of Economics and Management, and School of Foreign Languages.
