Signing Ceremony

Song Xuefeng, President of the CUMT, addresses the ceremony

Agreement Signing

On the afternoon of July 9th, the China University of Mining and Technology  signed on-line the agreement with the International Competence Centre for Mining-Engineering Education under the Auspices of UNESCO to act as its Flagship university in China. Joining the signing ceremony were Song Xuefeng, CUMT president, Zhou Fubao, CUMT vice president, and Vladimir Stefanovich Litvinenko, chairman of the governing board of the UNESCO International Centre and president of Saint-Petersburg Mining University as well as other representatives from both sides.

In his address, CUMT president Song Xuefeng reviewed our cooperation with Saint-Petersburg Mining University since the 1950s, in particular our fruitful cooperation under the framework of the International Competence Centre for Mining-Engineering Education in recent years. He said that the development strategy of “running the university in an open-door manner” adopted by CUMT is in line with the philosophy of “openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation” proposed by the Centre. Signing of the Agreement makes CUMT the Flagship university of the International Competence Centre and marks a new height in bilateral cooperation between the two universities under the framework of the Centre. CUMT will play a better role as the chief coordinator in China to encourage other Chinese universities, businesses and research organizations in the mining sector to participate in activities hosted by the Centre and promote the sound development of the Centre.

Vladimir Stefanovich Litvinenko, president of Saint-Petersburg Mining University, spoke highly of CUMT’s strengthes and status in Chinese mining education and its achievements and appreciateded  CUMT’s efforts to support development of the Centre. He reiterated the background and mission of the Centre and said that a total of six Flagship universities will be set up globally and a system of international professional competence assessment and certification of university professors and engineering personnel of companies in the mineral resources sector will be created so as to promote collaboration among researchers, especially young scholars, in the fields of teaching, scientific research and paper writing and to raise the international status of mining engineering education. Representative offices will be set up by both parties and in-depth cooperation with relevant organizations will be promoted to raise the academic status of the two universities and their professors. V.S. Litvinenko also expressed his expectation for a Flagship university meeting soon after the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate implementation of the Agreement.

During the video conference, CUMT president Song Xuefeng and Vladimir Stefanovich Litvinenko, president of Saint-Petersburg Mining University, signed the Agreement on behalf of the Flagship university and the Centre respectively. Song Xuefeng was interviewed by journalists of Saint-Petersburg Mining University after the signing ceremony.

Kirill Molodtsov, assistant to the head of administration of RF President, attended the online signing ceremony and congratulated both parties on the successful signing of the Agreement. Heads of Planning Department, Discipline Development Department, Graduate School and International Office attended the signing ceremony.

The two universities have exchanged  a number of high-level visits since 2016 to facilitate establishment of the International Competence Centre for Mining-Engineering Education under the Auspices of UNESCO. CUMT president Song Xuefeng and Vladimir Stefanovich Litvinenko, president of Saint-Petersburg Mining University, have held several video conferences since January of this year and have reached consensus on a package of bilateral cooperation items which were later included in the Agreement as Action Plan of both parties. According to the Agreement, as the only Flagship university of the UNESCO International Centre in China, CUMT will  coordinate  participation of  universities, businesses and research organizations in mining sector based in China and Asia in the Programs implemented by the UNESCO International Centre. As the Flagship university, CUMT will actively involve in setting of international standards and expand its global influence and power, which will also help push the University’s endeavours to build a “double first-class” university and a world-class university featuring energy and resources.

Source: Zhang Yuchuan, International Affairs Office

Photographer: Zhang Chi

Editor: Liu Yao

Reviewer: Huang Junli