By AIT Public Affairs
5 July 2024: A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen (HITSZ), China on 5 July 2024. This agreement aims to strengthen the relationship between the two institutions by fostering collaboration in academic research, capacity building, training, and faculty development activities.
The scope of the MoU includes the development of dual master’s degree programs for Environmental Engineering & Management and will be expanding to other academic programs, the creation of joint or collaborative research projects, the joint organization of seminars, workshops, and conferences, the implementation of staff/faculty development programs, capacity-building initiatives, specialized training programs, and student exchange programs, as well as other short-term student mobility initiatives.
The HITSZ delegation led by Prof. Qinyu ZHANG, Vice President and Dean of the School of Electronics and Information Engineering; consists of Prof. Wenbiao JIN, Dean of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Prof. Yunjiang LOU, Dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation; Prof. Kun LIU, Assistant to the Dean of the School of Architecture; Prof. Wenjie PEI, Assistant to the Dean of the School of Computer Science; and Ms. Jing YU, Program Coordinator of the Office of International Affairs.
Both parties discussed various avenues of collaboration and expressed confidence in the fruitful partnership. They agreed that the partnership would be beneficial to the institutions, staff, faculty, and students. The discussions covered research collaboration, the launch of joint projects, and program exchanges among others.
The delegates also visited the Belt and Road Research Center (BRRC), the WEM Hydraulics Lab, and the EEM Lab.
From AIT, the attendees were Prof. Nitin Kumar Tripathi, VPAA and Executive Director of SDP; Mr. Russell Rein, Vice President for Administration (VPA); Prof. Sangam Shrestha, Dean of SET; Prof. Abdul P. Salam, Dean of SERD; Dr. Ekbordin Winijkul, Department Head of WREE, SET; Prof. Huynh Trung Luong, Department Head of ISE, SET; Dr. Wenchao Xue, Academic Chair of EEM and Director of the Belt and Road Research Center; Dr. Sumana Shrestha, Director of IA-OIPA; Mr. Sanjeet Amatya, Director of PA-OIPA; and Mr. Arthur Lance Gonzales, Program Officer of SDP.
An MOA will be signed shortly for a dual master’s degree program in Environmental Engineering and Management. Students will begin their coursework at AIT for one year (two semesters) and then complete their thesis at HITSZ. Upon successful completion of the program, students will be awarded separate master’s degrees from both institutions. Additionally, both institutions are interested in expanding to other academic programs such as WEM, Computer Science & ICT, Urban Planning, and Sustainable Energy soon.
About Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT)
Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) was founded in 1920 and in 1954 was designated one of the six National Key Universities by the Chinese Ministry of Higher Education, the only one that was situated outside Beijing. In 2009, HIT was recognised as one of the members of the C9 League, a group of leading Chinese universities, cementing its elite status within Chinese higher education. With science, engineering and research at its core, HIT offers over 2,000 undergraduate and 1,900 postgraduate courses, for its 40,000 plus student body. Set over three campuses in Harbin, Weihai and the graduate school in Shenzhen, students are served by over 2,900 full-time academic staff. Visit HIT website
