As 2019 drew to a close, it’s time to take stock of the last twelve months and the stories which made headlines at Shenzhen Technology University (SZTU). There were stories that brought us together and inspired us to greater efforts. Via online voting, expert review and other channels, 10 news stories were selected which had a big impact on the past year.
1. SZTU signed strategic cooperation framework agreements with Tencent, Huawei, Siemens, Unicom and other companies.
SZTU becomes a strategic partner with Siemens, Tencent, Unicom, and Huawei. [Photo/Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office and International Cooperation & Student Affairs Office]
On May 16, SZTU and Shenzhen Tencent Computer System Co., Ltd. formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement to join hands in college and laboratory establishment, scientific research collaboration, information construction, and summer camp programs.
On June 14, SZTU signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Han’s Laser Technology Industry Group Co., Ltd. The two sides will jointly build a laboratory, set up Han’s Intelligent Manufacturing Class, and carry out all-round cooperation in personnel training, scientific and technological research, construction of practical training bases and curriculum developing.
On June 19, Prof. Ruan Shuangchen, president of SZTU, and Shang Huijie, senior vice president of Siemens Ltd., China, signed the strategic cooperation framework agreement in Munich. Wang Weizhong, secretary of Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee, Lothar Herrmann, executive vice president of Siemens AG and Zhang Jihong, secretary of the Party committee of SZTU, witnessed the signing ceremony.
On June 30, SZTU and China United Network Communications Co., Ltd. (or China Unicom) Shenzhen Branch formally signed the strategic cooperation agreement to fully cooperate in the top-level planning and application of “5G Smart Campus”.
On June 30, SZTU signed a cooperation agreement with Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. In the future, the two parties will conduct in-depth cooperation in information and network construction, cloud computing, discipline development, personnel exchange and student training.
2. SZTU signed MOUs with universities in Germany, Switzerland and other countries, and set up the first overseas office in Regensburg, Germany.
The first overseas office of SZTU is open in Regensburg, Germany. [Photo/International Cooperation & Student Affairs Office]
On January 16, the first overseas office of SZTU was officially open in Regensburg, Germany. It aims to promote exchanges and cooperation between SZTU and German universities, research institutes and enterprises, and provide support for teachers and students in overseas exchange visits.
On March 15, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) delegation led by Mr. Tim Steele, vice president for International Strategy and Partnerships, paid a visit to SZTU. A MOU was signed between SZTU and UCLan.
On March 22, the delegation led by Dr. David Finegold, president of Chatham University, visited SZTU, and two universities signed a MOU.
On April 19, a delegation led by Prof. Patyk Roksolana, vice president of Lviv National Academy of Arts (LNAA), and Prof. Patyk Ostap from Ukrainian National Forestry University paid a visit to SZTU. Two Ukrainian universities signed framework agreements with College of Creative Design of SZTU respectively.
On June 17, Prof. Ruan Shuangchen, president of SZTU, signed an agreement with Prof. Robert Grebner, president of University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (FHWS), under which the two universities will launch the Röntgen Artificial Intelligence Program.
From June 23 to 26, Prof. Dr. Herbert Binggeli, president of the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH), led a delegation to visit SZTU and officially signed a MOU with SZTU on the joint establishment of Swiss Innovation Center.
3. The Eleventh Plenary Session of the Sixth Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed: speeding up the construction of SZTU and building SZTU into a world-class university.
The construction of SZTU is emphasized during the conference. [Photo provided to Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office]
On January 8, Wang Weizhong, deputy secretary of Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and secretary of Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee, made a work report on behalf of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee during the Eleventh Plenary Session of the Sixth Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China. He mentioned SZTU twice at the report and requested for further campus construction after the approval of the establishment of SZTU.
During the group discussion, Shenzhen Mayor Chen Rugui emphasized that SZTU should benchmark against German top universities of applied sciences, and learn from well-known universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. It is proposed that SZTU should vigorously develop new engineering disciplines, accelerate campus construction, and actively encourage and support students’ entrepreneurship and innovation.
4. The founding ceremony of SZTU was successfully held.
On November 27, the founding ceremony of SZTU was held at the sports field, bringing together about 2,600 witnesses. Wang Weizhong, secretary of Shenzhen Communist Party Committee and deputy secretary of Guangdong Communist Party Committee, Lou Xuqing, associate counsel of Development Planning Department, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, Xing Feng, deputy director-general of Education Department of Guangdong Province, Li Xiaogan, director of Publicity Department of Shenzhen Communist Party Committee, Gao Zimin, secretary-general of Shenzhen Communist Party Committee, Wang Lixin, deputy mayor of Shenzhen, Tao Yongxin, secretary of Pingshan District Party Committee, Li Yong, deputy secretary and mayor of Pingshan District, Kuang Bing, director of Market Supervision Administration of Shenzhen Municipality, Qiao Hengli, director-general of Construction Affairs Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality, Xu Jianling, deputy director-general of Shenzhen Education Bureau, Li Qingquan, president of Shenzhen University, Li Fengliang, vice-chairperson of Southern University of Sciences and Technology, Zhang Jihong, Party secretary of SZTU, Ruan Shuangchen, president of SZTU, Zhang Yanhong, deputy Party secretary and secretary of Committee for Discipline Inspection of SZTU, Xu Gang, vice president of SZTU, witnessed the founding ceremony. The ceremony was hosted by Wang Lixin, deputy mayor of Shenzhen.
More than 2,600 people attend the founding ceremony of SZTU. [Photo/Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office]
Wang Weizhong emphasized an important fact that Shenzhen would always give priority to education, including strong support for the development of new universities like SZTU. He hoped that SZTU could learn from the essence of craftsmanship and cultivate talents of applied sciences. He is confident that SZTU will be a young yet promising university contributing to the development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and a demonstration pilot zone for socialism with Chinese characteristics in Shenzhen.
Wang Weizhong places high expectations on the future development of SZTU. [Photo/Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office]
5. In the first year of independent admissions, SZTU recruited 807 students from six provinces across the country, ranking the top ten among students of science in Guangdong Province.
SZTU welcomes new students in 2019. [Photo/Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office]
On March 28, the details of the student enrollment plan of 2019 were released: 8 colleges of SZTU was set to recruit 800 students with 6 majors and 11 training directions.
In 2019, SZTU accepted a total of 807 students from six provinces. The minimum admission score for students in Guangdong Province is 521 points, the highest score 595, and the average score 531.7. Besides, SZTU is also very popular in other provinces. The score for students from Henan Province and Shaanxi Province should be at least 60 points more than the cut-off score and 40 for those from Liaoning and Shandong.
On September 15, except for the undergraduate freshmen, SZTU also welcomed 35 master students, 4 doctoral students, and 1 international student (doctoral student).
6. SZTU design teams won many awards from home and abroad.
In May, a design team of SZTU led by Associate Professor Chen Yongjun and Assistant Professor Deng Wei from College of Creative Design, and another one also led by Associate Professor Chen Yongjun, won two of the top packaging design awards worldwide-the WorldStar Packaging Awards.
In August, the design team led by Associate Professor Chen Yongjun won the top packaging award in China-First Prize of the 2019 China Packaging Creative Design Competition.
The design team of SZTU wins the gold prize of EPDA. [Photo provided to Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office]
In October, the design team led by Assistant Professor Li Liquan from College of Creative Design won Gold Prize in the European Product Design Award (EPDA) competition because of their modular mineral water bottle design on which they took out a national patent.
In addition, 15 pieces of design works by SZTU students won second prizes, third prizes and outstanding prizes in the 6th Chinese Universities Design Competition. Professor Yan Ping won the Excellent Instructor Award.
7. SZTU 2019 International Week was successfully held with over 40 international professors offering more than 120 international courses.
From September 23 to 27, SZTU 2019 International Week was successfully held with 43 well-known professors and scholars from Germany, Switzerland and other countries offering a total of 129 international courses.
During the International Week, SZTU also held High Table Dinner and Bavarian Night for the freshmen of 2019, helping them understand western etiquette and broaden their horizons.
SZTU’s high-level forum on Universities of Applied Sciences is successfully held. [Photo/Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office]
On September 27, a high-level forum was also successfully held under the theme of Internationalization and Master Education at Universities of Applied Sciences, gathering great minds from top-ranking universities of applied sciences to give keynote speeches and brainstorm ideas about the future development of universities of applied sciences.
8. SZTU foreign language teachers won multiple national awards.
Liu Chuan’s performance impresses the judges in the contest. [Photo provided to Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office]
In December, two SZTU teachers participated in the grand final of 2019 Multilanguage “Star Teacher” Contest set up by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP). Liu Chuan, teacher from College of Humanities and Social Sciences (School of Marxism), won the champion of the German teaching group and Zhang Lulu from the same College won the first prize.
In addition, Li Chao, teacher from the same college, won the special prize in the final in Guangdong Province of the 10th National Foreign Language Teaching Contest set up by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press (SFLEP) and won the third prize in the national final.
9. SZTU students won a number of awards at 2019 Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Competition and National Cryptography Competition.
In October, with Prof. Wang Hongzhi and Dr. Zhang Mingji from Sino-German College of Intelligent Manufacturing as tutors, 3 SZTU teams stood out among over 200 teams and won the 1 first prize and 2 third prizes at the final of 2019 Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Competition.
SZTU students have wonderful performance at the Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Competition. [Photo provided to Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office]
In November, three junior students from College of Big Data and Internet entered the final and won the second prize at National Cryptography Competition. Wang Caifen, professor from College of Big Data and Internet, and Zhang Yiwei, associate professor from the same college, were granted the Excellent Instructor Award for their guidance to the students.
10. SZTU students enjoyed teatime with the secretary of the Party committee and had an informal discussion with the president in the school year of 2019.
Students frankly express their ideas during the teatime and the meeting. [Photo/Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office]
Student representatives of SZTU enjoyed the first afternoon tea with the Secretary of the Party Committee Zhang Jihong and had an informal discussion with the President Ruan Shuangchen in the school year of 2019 on October 18 and October 29 respectively. Zhang Jihong, secretary of the Party committee of SZTU, Ruan Shuangchen, president of SZTU, Xu Gang, vice president of SZTU, and the heads of relevant departments exchanged ideas and communicated with student representatives from different colleges.
Drafted by Daisy（姚琦）
Photo by Party Affairs Committee Publicity Office
Edited by Brian（郑斌）
