NPU turns 80, more foreign students join

In recent years, Northwestern Polytechnical University has given priority to international cooperation in education and many foreign students have come to NPU for further studies.

NPU, a top university in China, based in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, was among the earliest in Northwest China to launch such programs.

The university is multidisciplinary and research-oriented, featuring programs in aviation, aerospace and marine technology engineering.

At the 80th anniversary celebrations of NPU in Xi'an on Saturday, Wang Jinsong, president of the university, said colleges and universities shoulder the task of cultivating talents, research, social service, cultural inheritance and innovation, as well as international exchanges and cooperation.

"NPU is striving to be a world-class university with global influence in aeronautics, astronautics, marine technology and other fields, and regards educating students as a core mission and takes talent cultivation as an essential task," he said.

To date, NPU has made cooperative agreements with 14 of the world's top 200 universities, covering many fields. About 1,800 students are taking the outbound study programs, a number that has grown by over 60 percent during the past year. University of Oxford, Cambridge, Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization and the International Labor Organization, many world-class universities and international organizations are also destinations for NPU teachers and students.

Recently, NPU has signed agreements on talent cultivation with Warwick University in the United Kingdom, University of Technology of Belfort-Montbeliard and National Institute of Applied Science in France, the Mongolian University of Science and Technology, and the Mahanakorn University of Technology in Thailand.

QMES, an engineering school jointly launched by NPU and Queen Mary University of London in 2015, set a model for international talent cultivation cooperation.

Andrew Bushby, professor and director of the Nano Vision Center of Queen Mary University of London, and executive vice-president of QMES, expressed his willingness to see cooperation between both sides and felt it could promote relations between the two cities.

NPU has established channels to recruit foreign students in senior high schools by organizing high-tech lectures and activities and to inspire their passions on technology and innovation.

The Belt and Road Aerospace Innovation Alliance, launched by NPU and the Chinese Society of Astronautics in last April, is a joint effort inspired by the Belt and Road Initiative, and intends to be a platform for talent development, production, teaching and knowledge transfer in the aerospace field.

At present, 51 universities, research institutions and academic organizations in China, the United States, Russia, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Egypt, Algeria, UK, Australia and other countries involved in BRI have joined the alliance.

The Sino-Australian Engineering Universities Consortium was launched on Oct 12 at NPU. The consortium includes nine domestic universities of The Excellence League and four leading engineering universities of The Australian Technology Network of Universities.