Penn: Expanding Academic and Research Collaborations in China	Print Issue
January 20, 2009, Volume 55, No. 18

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

The University of Pennsylvania and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai announced an agreement to expand and enhance their ongoing academic and research collaborations, including when President Gutmann was in China earlier this month, identifying student and faculty exchanges, development of plans for research collaboration in regenerative medicine, formation of a joint Center of Excellence in Medical Imaging and exploring a jointly sponsored conference on International Financial Market Regulation.

“It is an honor to be here today with the secretary of the party committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Madame Ma, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University President Zhang Jie as we announce a deepening collaboration between our two great institutions,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said. “For many years, our two universities have enjoyed a warm and productive relationship, and it gives me enormous pleasure to extend this collaboration into new and exciting areas of academic and research endeavor.”

Dean Thomas Robertson, of Penn’s Wharton School, said, “The Wharton School has enjoyed an especially close and fruitful relationship with SJTU’s Antai College of Management, going back 30 years, and we are eager to explore possible new initiatives with our esteemed colleagues.” (See Almanac September 9, 1980 and September 16, 1980.)

The agreement signed by President Gutmann and President Zhang includes:

• Exploring a jointly sponsored conference on international financial market regulation with Penn’s Wharton and Law schools and their counterparts at SJTU.

• Development of plans for a research collaboration in regenerative medicine with Penn’s John Gearhart, a nationally renowned researcher in the field of stem cell research.

• Formation of a joint Center of Excellence in Medical Imaging between Penn’s School of Medicine and SJTU’s School of Medicine, as well as PhD graduate exchange programs in the biomedical sciences. Discussions are also underway for the creation of a joint immunology institute, involving key faculty at each institution.

• Identification of student and faculty exchanges and collaborative research opportunities between Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, School of Nursing and Graduate School of Education and SJTU.

Previous collaborations between Penn and SJTU have included faculty exchanges, joint sponsorship of executive-education programs and training of doctoral students.

SJTU, founded in 1896, is one of the oldest universities in China. It has 20 academic schools on six campuses, enrolling 38,000 full-time students pursuing undergraduate, master and doctoral degrees.

Tsinghua University

The University of Pennsylvania and Tsinghua University earlier this month announced an agreement to expand and enhance their ongoing academic and research collaborations, including developing a conference on undergraduate education to discuss best practices and skills development and identifying a major research collaboration spearheaded by Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.

“It is an honor to be here today with Tsinghua University President Gu Binglin as we agree to enhance the longstanding and important academic relationship between our two great institutions,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said. “For many years, Penn and Tsinghua University have collaborated on several exciting projects, and I am delighted to extend this important partnership into new areas of academic and research endeavor.”

In addition to the Penn Engineering proposal, the agreement signed by the two presidents includes:

• Developing a conference on undergraduate education to discuss best practices and development of skills such as leadership.

• Exploring opportunities for renewed collaborations between Tsinghua and Penn’s Wharton School and Law School.

Previous collaborations include the Penn-Tsinghua T.C. Center, a successful partnership between the Penn School of Design and Tsinghua focused on creating healthier, productive, energy efficient strategies that will lead to high performance buildings and sustainable environments; student exchanges between the Penn Law School and Tsinghua; and faculty and student initiatives between Penn Engineering and Tsinghua.

Tsinghua University was founded in 1911 and is widely regarded as one of China’s top universities. It has 13 schools and 55 departments, with more than 25,900 undergraduate and graduate students studying such fields as science, engineering, humanities, law, medicine, history, philosophy, economics, management, education and art.