On 15 October, the 6th Exchange Mechanism Conference of the CPEC Consortium of Universities was held at Harbin Engineering University (HEU).
Attendees at the opening ceremony included ZHANG Daliang, Vice President of the China Association of Higher Education; Niaz Ahmad Akhtar, Chairman of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan; ZHAO Rongguo, Deputy Secretary-General of the People’s Government of Heilongjiang Province; YIN Jingwei, President of HEU; and YU Zhiwen, Vice President of HEU. LIU Yong, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges at the Ministry of Education, and Syed Ali Asad Gilani, Pakistani Ambassador to China, delivered video speeches.
YIN Jingwei expressed the hope that universities in the consortium would nurture young people’s understanding through mutual learning between civilisations, address practical issues through joint scientific research, strengthen innovation collaboration, and pool momentum for cooperation through joint talent cultivation, to elevate China-Pakistan higher education exchanges to a new level.
ZHAO Rongguo noted that HEU boasts distinctive strengths in shipbuilding, ocean engineering and nuclear technology. He called on all participants to focus on scientific and technological collaboration, deepen mutual learning in higher education between the two countries, and contribute university wisdom to high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.
Niaz Ahmad Akhtar stated that the CPEC Consortium of Universities has delivered remarkable outcomes since its establishment. In response to the new demands of CPEC development, Pakistan stands ready to work with China to advance cooperation from agreement signing to project implementation, joint talent cultivation and achievement sharing, expand joint training programmes, and deepen higher education cooperation between the two countries, to better support CPEC development and the common development of both nations.
ZHANG Daliang noted that the consortium’s exchange mechanism has become an important platform for pragmatic cooperation and mutual learning between Chinese and Pakistani universities. He called for upgrading cooperation from scattered projects to systematic collaboration, adhering to capacity-building orientation to build an industry-education integrated education chain, promoting inter-university resource sharing, and focusing on collaborative scientific research innovation. He expressed expectations that the exchange mechanism will continue to grow and deepen cooperation, writing a new chapter of win-win cooperation in China-Pakistan higher education.
LIU Yong noted that the CPEC Consortium of Universities has become an important cooperation network connecting more than 100 universities in both countries. He hoped that the consortium would closely align with the development needs of both countries, strengthen the alignment of leading disciplines, deepen joint training and scientific research cooperation, and deliver more pragmatic outcomes supporting CPEC development. China stands ready to work with Pakistan to support the consortium in continuously improving cooperation standards.
Ambassador Syed Ali Asad Gilani stated that China-Pakistan university cooperation should build long-term, stable partnerships and focus on impactful joint research. The consortium should promote the translation of research outcomes from laboratories to industries, and strengthen university-government-enterprise collaboration and young talent development. The embassy will support universities on both sides in connecting with government and industrial resources, to deepen China-Pakistan higher education cooperation.
At the conference, the Annual Development Report on the Exchange Mechanism of the CPEC Consortium of Universities was released.
Building on the consortium’s exchange mechanism, the conference launched disciplinary clusters for the first time, with the simultaneous establishment of the Thematic Research Cluster on Marine Information and the Thematic Research Cluster on Agriculture, Food Security and Biotechnology. Focusing on areas of shared concern between China and Pakistan including marine information, agricultural development, information technology and public health, the clusters will deepen joint scientific research and collaborative innovation.
The launch ceremony of Pakistan’s CPEC High-Level Postgraduate Academic Visit Programme was held at the conference. HEU signed inter-university education cooperation agreements with Pakistani universities, and the list of newly admitted member universities of the consortium’s exchange mechanism was announced.
The conference heard annual work reports from the Chinese and Pakistani secretariats of the exchange mechanism.
In the university experience sharing session, seven representatives from Chinese and Pakistani universities shared their practical outcomes in disciplinary co-development, research collaboration and joint talent training.
Four parallel forums were held during the conference, focusing on marine information, AI and future development, advanced materials and intelligent manufacturing, and the China-Pakistan youth forum.
The CPEC Consortium of Universities was founded in November 2017. HEU joined the consortium in 2021. Leveraging its distinctive strengths in shipbuilding, ocean engineering and nuclear technology, HEU has continuously advanced pragmatic cooperation in talent training, faculty and student exchanges, and joint scientific research, contributing to China-Pakistan science and education exchanges and CPEC development.
