On November 13, representatives of the University of Paderborn held a specially convened meeting in Munich with a high-ranking delegation from the province of Shandong. The focus was on aspects of German-Chinese cooperation, in particular cooperation in the higher education sector. Shandong is one of 33 Chinese provinces that are comparable to German federal states. Shandong has over 100 million inhabitants and is characterized by above-average economic power. In talks between Zheng Gong, the Prime Minister of Shandong Province, Prof. Dr. Lianxiang Ma, President of Qingdao University of Science and Technology (QUST), Prof. Dr. Birgitt Riegraf, President of the University of Paderborn, and Prof. Dr. Torsten Meier, Vice President for International Relations, the almost twenty-year successful cooperation between the University of Paderborn and QUST within the CDTF (Chinese-German Technical Faculty) in the subjects of mechanical engineering and chemistry as a flagship for a successful international cooperation was highlighted as exemplary. This is an excellent basis for the further expansion of the cooperation.
The establishment of a Chinese-German campus (CDC) has already been agreed between the two universities with a focus on intensifying joint projects in research and teaching. The CDC is currently being built on the site of the Sino-German Ecopark in Qingdao, which was founded in 2013. The Sino-German Ecopark is co-supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and forms a framework for Chinese-German cooperation in the environmental sector and in particular in the area of reducing emissions. In the meantime, the Ecopark has developed into a successful platform for cooperation in industry and trade, but also in the areas of sports and music. Prof. Dr. Birgitt Riegraf was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Sino-German Ecopark, which is made up of top-class representatives from politics, business and science, and received a certificate from Director Shiyu Zhao at a festive ceremony.
A plaque with the inscription “Chinesisch-Deutscher Campus Deutschland” was then ceremoniously unveiled. Prof. Riegraf and Prof. Ma signed an agreement that strengthened the joint further development of the previous cooperation towards a Chinese-German technical university. Further steps to intensify the projects were also discussed. In addition to strengthening joint research activities, also together with other partners and industry, and the training of specialists, who are in high demand on both sides, the teaching of intercultural skills is also of enormous importance for sustainable success. In these discussions, Riegraf emphasized the high economic and innovative power of NRW and in particular the OWL region, including in the areas of information technology, intelligent technical systems, mobility and the automotive supplier industry. Other topics were the great successes in the field of start-ups, which are promoted together with many partners as part of garage33. The Prime Minister and the Presidents agreed that both universities and regions can benefit significantly from the diverse perspectives for future joint projects. Zheng Gong emphasized that Shandong Province will continue to support the cooperation.
In another meeting at the Hans Seidel Foundation, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Bremser, German Director of the Chinese-German Campus, and Dr. Tran-Thien Hoang Trang, CDC coordinator, attended the event "Family Business Inheritance and Sustainable Management of Sino-German Youth Entrepreneurs Dialogue". Organized by the Shandong Province, Department of Economics and Information Technology, and the Hans Seidel Foundation, this event offered a platform for the development and expansion of networks and cooperation between medium-sized companies from Germany and China. Among the guests of honor were Binchang Ji, Minister for Economics and Information Technology of the Shandong Province, Ulrike Hoffmann, Bavarian State Ministry for Economics and Media, Energy and Technology, and Dr. Eduard Sailer, former managing director of Miele.
