Another milestone reached in UTS-Shanghai University partnership

The establishment of a new Joint Engineering and Innovation Institute marks the next phase in the 20-year partnership between UTS and China's Shanghai University (SHU).

An agreement for the joint institute was one of three signed recently when the new President of SHU, Professor Donghan Jin, led a senior delegation to UTS to discuss further collaboration.

SHU and UTS have one of the largest and longest-standing joint higher education institutes in China, the SHU-UTS SILC Business School, which was established in 1994.

Professor Jin met with UTS Vice-Chancellor Attila Brungs to renew the longstanding Key Technology Partnership (KTP) and establish the Joint Engineering and Innovation Institute, which will be a leading graduate training and research institute in China that supports a range of research centres and teaching programs.

"The joint institute will be the platform for significant mutual benefits to our students, researchers and industry partners," said Dean of UTS Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, Professor Ian Burnett.

"These benefits will flow quickly from a focus on integrated research and teaching, with an emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship."

With a flagship UTS-SHU Wise Information Systems Joint Research Centre at its heart, the joint institute will drive innovation and entrepreneurship in all of its programs. It will attract leading researchers and the highest calibre of students and be deeply connected with Shanghai industry.

The third agreement signed, a professional staff exchange agreement, will further support professional staff interaction and experience sharing between the institutions.

The UTS KTP strategy enables high-quality research links between UTS and its overseas partner institutions through joint postgraduate degree programs, student and academic exchange, as well as joint research collaboration. SHU was the first KTP agreement signed in mainland China, in 2010.

SHU and UTS share common research interests in the areas of design, urban social studies, engineering and science. Student and visiting research fellow exchange between the two institutions has been very active and the institutions established a dual degree PhD program in 2010.

During their visit the SHU delegation visited new UTS Buildings and facilities including the Faculty of Science's "super lab" and the UTS Data Arena.  A visit to the UTS Hatchery also took place to share ideas with SHU on UTS's new learning models, engagement with industries and entrepreneurship.