On the afternoon of November 14, Chen Yanbin, Member of the Standing Committee of CUEB Party Committee and Vice President, met with a delegation from George Mason University (GMU) in Boyuan Building. The delegation consisted of Krista Uhrig, Director of the Office of International Enrollment Partnerships at GMU, Jason Kinser, Chair of Computational and Data Sciences Department, Mark Rozell, Dean of Schar School of Policy and Government and their team. The two sides had an in-depth discussion on personnel training programs for international organizations, Sino-foreign educational cooperation programs as well as extended cooperations in the future.

Chen greeted the GMU delegation. He stated that the Joint Master’s Programme between the two universities has been funded by the China Scholarship Council (CSC), and he expected that the two sides would advance joint training of masters and doctors as well as personnel training programs for international organizations. Next, the two sides will continue to carry out summer courses, strengthen big data collaboration, and establish a comprehensive strategic partnership by deepening international cooperation in terms of student exchanges faculty exchanges, research, and other areas.

Krista Uhrig fully acknowledged CUEB’s efforts in advancing the programs of personnel training and student exchanges. She hoped the two universities would continue to deepen comprehensive and multilevel cooperation while ensuring the steady and orderly development of personnel training programs for international organizations.

The GMU delegation then visited smart classrooms, foreign teachers’ offices, apartments, and other places. Jason Kinser and Mark Rozell won high appreciation for their excellent lectures to teachers and students from the School of Statistics and the College of Urban Economics and Public Administration respectively.

The GMU delegation held a symposium on cooperative programs with International Cooperation and Exchanges Office, School of Statistics and College of Urban Economics and Public Administration. In the discussion, the two sides agreed on what and how to collaborate, setting the groundwork for future cooperation.

Present at the discussion were three members from International Cooperation and Exchanges Office, namely, Director Xie Haixia, Deputy Director Wei Huaying, and Assistant of Director Sha Yezhou, two leaders from College of Urban Economics and Public Administration, namely, Dean Zhang Guoshan and Project Director Pan Na, and three members from School of Statistics, namely, Deputy Dean Zhang Yuchun, Associate Professor Lin Peng, and Instructor Yan Xiaomeng.

George Mason University, founded in 1972, is a famous first-class national university in America and the largest and the most diverse public research institution in Virginia. It now has 37,000 registered students and more than 1,400 full-time staff. According to the US News & World Report in 2023, it is ranked 64th among public universities, 48th among institutes of public administration, and 14th among global policy and management majors. Recently, our university’s 2023 International Organization Reserve Personnel Development and Funding Project has been officially approved, among which the project of a dual master’s degree for “Global Governance and Policy Analysis” is granted for three years (from 2024 to 2026). During this period, CUEB will select students to pursue a professional degree in Global Commerce and Policy at GMU every year.