On March 22, the school of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering hosted a symposium on deepening the cooperation between Oklahoma State University at x4520. Dr. Randy Kluver, Dean of Global Research and Cooperation; Dr. Bret Danilowicz, Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences from OSU; Dr. Norb Delatte, Dean of Civil and Environmental Engineering from OSU; Dr. Vivian Wang, Director of China Programs from OSU; Professor Liu, Dean of the School of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering from SWJTU; Professor Wang, Secretary of CPC from SWJTU, etc. attended the symposium. The symposium was presided over by Professor Liu, Dean of the School of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering.

First of all, Professor Liu extended a warm welcome to the delegation from Oklahoma State University and introduced the basic information of participants from the School of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering to the delegation members. Then, Dr. Randy Kluver said he felt happy when he arrived in Chengdu for the first time.

Additionally, Professor Wang said that the delegation are not only guests, but also our partners with whom we work together participating in Sino-foreign cooperation projects for common students. In early November last year, the delegation led by Dr. Lee Bird was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the SWJTU-OSU joint program. With the efforts and support of all parties, we successfully enrolled 51 students in the first year, and now they gradually adapted to the English education class and college life. At the same time, Professor Wang said that our school is in urgent need of an international management team, both in teaching and scientific research. He hoped that Oklahoma State University could actively respond to the recruitment of international teachers and provide excellent foreign teachers for the OSU program. Professor Wang emphasized that the two sides should further strengthen cooperation in the multidisciplinary international exchange programs on the basis of existing cooperation programs.

After that, Professor Liu introduced the basic situation of the school from the aspects of its basic constitution, the results of the international education project, and the research fields of the three disciplines, etc. The School of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering has been established for seven years, with three major disciplines: environmental engineering, geological engineering, surveying and mapping science and technology, and it includes laboratories such as the Environmental Science and Engineering Center, Fire Control Center and so on. The school has an international teaching team, and most of its staff have overseas study experience. At present, the research fields mainly include green transportation, fire retardant materials, rock mechanics, and geotechnical engineering.

Du Yuchen introduced the development of the SWJTU-OSU joint program. The students who participated in this project not only had a rich extracurricular life, but also participated in campus basketball, football, and other team competitions. They also studied hard and achieved an average score of more than 80 points in all subjects at the end of the semester.

Deputy secretary of CPC, Fu Yougang introduced the recruitment arrangement of the SWJTU-OSU program in 2018. In 2018, the school will set up a special recruitment team, which will be composed of teachers and student volunteers visiting key middle schools in various cities in Sichuan Province for recruitment publicity to ensure the quality of students. In addition, the school will produce bilingual publicity materials in both Chinese and English and publicity videos for recruitment.

Finally, the two sides discussed and exchanged views on joint program issues. Dr. Wang introduced the course selection and language score submission of the first group of students in the project in the next semester. At the same time, the two sides discussed in detail the cooperation of undergraduate, master’s, and doctorate international exchange programs in other disciplines. Both sides indicated that China has a broad international education market, and they look forward to further cooperation in academic exchange programs.

So far, the symposium has been concluded successfully.