Council Meeting of the International Higher Education Alliance for Mining, Energy and Environment (AMEE) 2019
On the occasion of CUMT 110th anniversary, the International Higher Education Alliance for Mining, Energy and Environment (AMEE) 2019 was held in Xuzhou on May 31. President Song Xuefeng and Vice-President Zhou Fubao attended the meeting. Nearly 50 representatives from 20 universities and 13 countries were present at the meeting, including those from China, the United States, Germany, Australia, Vietnam, Russia, Poland, Thailand, Finland, Indonesia, Argentina, South Africa and Mongolia.
President Song Xuefeng delivered a welcome speech at the opening ceremony. He said that since the founding of AMEE in 2009, high-level visits and personnel exchanges among the member universities have become increasingly frequent, the range of cooperation has been expanding, and cooperative relations have become closer. AMEE has not only become an important platform for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, but also played an increasingly active role as an academic community, and its international influence has also been expanding. In particular, he pointed out that the summer school program has been in operation for five consecutive years under the framework of the alliance, which has not only provided a platform for young students from different countries and cultural backgrounds to learn from each other, but also has become an important network for the alliance member universities to strengthen contacts. He emphasized that the development of AMEE calls for the joint efforts from all member universities. He hoped to further sort out the development status of the alliance, improve the working mechanism, strengthen connectivity, and enhance the level of cooperation.
The Secretary-General of the Alliance, Mr. Zhang Zhenkang, briefed on the preparatory work for the meeting, and entrusted by Professor G. T. Lineberry, Chairman of AMEE, he made a progress report of the Alliance for years 2015 - 2019. The Council Meeting also elected Professor Richard Bajura, Director Emeritus of National Research Center for Coal and Energy, Acting Director of US-China Energy Center and Professor of the University of West Virginia as the new chairman of AMEE. Moreover, the time of the next council meeting was determined as well on the Council Meeting.
Twelve universities from 10 countries were accepted by the Council Meeting as new members of AMEE. They are the University of New South Wales from Australia, St. Petersburg Mining University from Russia, Ural State Mining University from Russia, AGH University of Science and Technology from Poland, Lappeenranta University of Technology from Finland, Lambung Mangkurat University from Indonesia, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional "Veteran" Yogyakarta from Indonesia, University of the Witwatersrand from South Africa, Chulalongkorn University from Thailand and Mongolian University of Science and Technology from Mongolia, Quang Ninh University of Industry from Vietnam and Universidad Católica de Salta from Argentina. After this council meeting, the AMEE membership has expanded to 21 universities from 13 different countries.
At the council meeting, the members of AMEE also fully exchanged their thoughts on the future work as well as collaborative prospects of the Alliance, and agreed to further build consensus, refine and finalize the Xuzhou Joint Statement.
AMEE was founded in 2009 at the 100th anniversary of CUMT, jointly by 11 world-renowned universities from USA, Germany, Australia, Vietnam and other countries. It is a non-profit international university alliance organization with multilateral cooperation.
