Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Chancellor Julie Furst-Bowe signed a letter of affirmation with China’s Shenyang Aerospace University (SAU) on Tuesday, Oct. 28. The two institutions signed an earlier agreement in China to collaborate in faculty and student exchanges as well as 2+2 programs for SAU students in the areas of mechanical engineering, computer science and electrical engineering.
In these programs, students will study the first two years at Aerospace University and the next two at SIUE, receiving bachelor’s degrees from both institutions.
SAU will seek to recruit students for the 2+2 program. Students will begin their studies at SlUE at the earliest suitable date.
“Under Dean Hasan Sevim’s leadership, the School of Engineering has been a leader in developing these types of partnerships for SIUE,” said Furst-Bowe. “These collaborative international relationships are a significant growth area for SIUE, and we are positioned quite well to capitalize on these opportunities.”
SAU and SlUE will also seek to initiate SIUE faculty led student exchange programs. The programs most likely will take place during July and August for one to four weeks.
“Our agreement with Shenyang Aerospace University is yet another example of our commitment to the internationalization of this campus,” said Parviz Ansari, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “This agreement provides a new opportunity for students and holds the promise of new scholarly collaborations for the faculty members. We fully anticipate our partnership with SAU growing even stronger in the future.”
To further opportunities for collaboration, SAU and SlUE will encourage their faculty to undertake a sabbatical term at the partner institution
“These collaborative programs in mechanical and electrical engineering are emblematic of the partnerships being developed with universities worldwide,” said Hasan Sevim, dean of the SIUE School of Engineering.
Currently, the School of Engineering has a partnership with Istanbul (Turkey) Technical University in industrial engineering and another with Tongmyong University (South Korea) in mechanical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, computer engineering and industrial engineering.
Photo: Front row: SAU Vice President Qi Wang and SIUE Chancellor Julie Furst-Bowe. Second row: Cem Karacal, SAU School of Computer Science Dean Xiangbin Shi, SAU School of Electronics and Information Engineering Dean Yufeng Li, SIUE Provost Paviz Ansari, SIUE School of Engineering Dean Hasan Sevim and Keqin Gu. Back row: SAU School of Aerospace Engineering DeputyDean Weng Zeng, Ron Schaefer, and Albert Luo.