From March 18 to 22, Vice President Chen Yanbin, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, led a delegation to visit the University of Arizona (UA) in the United States and signed an inter-school cooperation agreement, taking further steps to deepen cooperation in Sino-foreign cooperative education and recruit outstanding overseas personnel.

Chen Signs Cooperation Agreement with Jenny J Lee.

On March 20, Chen Yanbin, on behalf of CUEB, signed an inter-school cooperation agreement with Jenny J Lee, Vice President of the University of Arizona. The two parties reached a cooperation consensus on student exchanges, teacher visits, and joint scientific research, opening a new chapter in Sino-foreign cooperative education. During the signing ceremony, Chen highly praised the progressive achievements made by the two schools in the field of Sino-foreign cooperation education, fully acknowledged the outstanding achievements of the University of Arizona in the global academic community, and introduced the advantageous specialties of CUEB’s discipline construction, especially the school’s digital transformation and internationalization efforts. He expected a joint endeavor to deepen exchange and cooperation for more breakthroughs. Jenny J Lee reviewed the friendly and efficient cooperation between the two schools and expressed sincere appreciation for both teams’ unremitting efforts. She also hoped that building on the strong basis of cooperation, they would pursue a long-term partnership by leveraging the strengths of their respective disciplines, collaborating in more areas across a broader scope, and at a deeper level.

Leaders of the two schools celebrate the signing of the Cooperation Agreement together.

Chen Yanbin presents a gift to the University of Arizona.

During the visit, Chen attended the meeting of the Joint Management Committee of the Sino-foreign education cooperation program of the two universities. The progress of the 2023 Sino-foreign Cooperative Program in Statistics was reported, and experts at the meeting considered and approved the teaching quality assurance system, opened a “Green Channel” for CUEB students to finish the post-graduate study at the UA, and provided convenience for the faculty employment.

The delegation presents a gift to the College of Science after the Joint Management Committee meeting.

During their stay in the U.S., various departments of the UA warmly received Chen Yanbin and his delegation and arranged a variety of exchanges and visits. CUEB delegation met with the heads of the College of Science, the Department of Mathematics, the School of Business, the School of Government and Public Policy, and the Center for International Affairs. They also observed the Flipped Classroom, and visited the University History Museum, the Center for Student Development, and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, among other places.

Friendly meeting between the delegation and the School of Business.

The delegation observes the Flipped Classroom.

In addition, the delegation visited the Chinese students in UA and conducted overseas staff recruitment talks with some outstanding Doctoral students, introducing CUEB’s initiatives and policies for recruiting overseas personnel, which aroused their interest in CUEB.

The delegation meets with Doctoral students.

This is CUEB’s first visit to the UA, and two parts will further focus on the advantageous disciplines and launch more exchanges, laying a solid foundation for CUEB to introduce the world’s first-class educational resources, implementing the spirit of the Fifth CPC Congress of CUEB and improving the quality of Silk Road Project.

Visitors to UA also included Zhou Kaiguo, Dean of the School of Finance, Ruan Jing, Vice Dean of the School of Data Science, Zhao Lingfei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Branch, and Wu Kang, Professor of the School of Urban Economics and Public Administration.

Background Information

The University of Arizona (UA), located in Tucson, the second largest city in Arizona, was founded in 1885. It is a world-renowned institution of higher learning and one of the top public research universities in the United States, often referred to as the “Public Ivy”. The University of Arizona has been awarded the Nobel Prize 5 times and boasts 29 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 18 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 26 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and 109 members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The university enjoys a high academic reputation globally, notably in fields such as engineering, optics, astronomy, and earth sciences. The university’s Optical Sciences Center is one of the three major optical centers in the United States and one of the best in the world. The Management Information Systems (MIS) discipline at the business school is renowned worldwide, alongside the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Carnegie Mellon University, earning it the reputation of being one of the MIS giants. The university is also an important space support base for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

In October 2022, CUEB obtained approval from the Ministry of Education to cooperate with the University of Arizona in offering an undergraduate Statistics degree. The program now has 178 students, with an annual enrollment of 120. It adopts a “4+0” mode for fully English-taught education. Students who complete all four years of study domestically are awarded both Chinese and American Bachelor of Science degrees upon graduation. The faculty of the college all come from well-known universities both domestically and internationally, and all staff members have overseas study or work experience, highlighting the college’s internationalization.