At the invitation of Hengshui University (HSU), a delegation from the University of Central Missouri (UCM) in the United States visited HSU from October 14th to 16th, 2023 to carry out exchange activities with HSU university leaders and relevant departments.
The Chinese-foreign cooperative education program in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics jointly developed by HSU and UCM was approved by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China for implementation in November 2021. The first enrollment was in the fall of 2022. So far, two batches of students have been enrolled into the program.
The three-member delegation from the University of Central Missouri visited this time, including Dr. Laurel Hogue (Vice Provost for Online and Learning Engagement), Dr. Jeffrey Robertson (Dean of College of Health, Science, and Technology) and Dr. Phoebe McLaughlin (Chair of Department of Mathematics, Actuarial Science, and Statistics). Dr. Shouzhong Wang (Secretary of the Party Committee of Hengshui University), Dr. Yongqin Wang (Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Hengshui University), and Dr. Qingxi Song (Member of the Party Committee and Vice President of Hengshui University), met with the delegation and attended relevant activities respectively. Mrs. Yunyan Ma (Director of the International Cooperation and Exchange Center), Mr. Zhihua Liu (Deputy Director of the Academic Affairs Office), Mr. Hu Li (Secretary of the Party Branch of the Mathematics and Computer Science College), and Mr. Lianqiu Wei (Dean of Mathematics and Computer Science College), accompanied and participated in the exchange activities.
On the morning of October 16th, the two parties held the 2023 Fall Discussion Meeting among Chinese-foreign Cooperative Education Program Management Committee in the conference room on the third floor of the HSU administrative building. Dr. Yongqin Wang attended the meeting and delivered a welcome speech. This meeting was chaired by Dr. Qingxi Song. Mr. Wenli He, Mr. Hu li, Mr. Lianqiu Wei, Mrs. Yunyan Ma, Mr. Zhihua Liu and related personnel attended the meeting. Mrs. Xiaoying Zhang, teacher from Foreign Languages Department, served as on-site interpreter.
On behalf of Hengshui University, Dr. Yongqin Wang extended a warm welcome to the guests from UCM. She briefly introduced the basic information of Hengshui City and Hengshui University to the guests. Dr. Yongqin Wang said the two universities’ long history, similar development experiences, opening educational concepts, and joint efforts in cooperative program have made the two universities in China and the United States, thousands of miles apart, become “confidants”. She sincerely hopes the two universities will use this cooperative program as a bond to further carry out deeper, multi-field, and all-round cooperation, truly achieving a win-win situation for the internationalization of the two universities.
Dr. Laurel Hogue expressed her gratitude to Hengshui University for the invitation and conveyed the greetings of Dr. Best, UCM President, and Dr. Bridgmon, UCM Provost, as well as 600 faculty and almost 12,000 students. She expressed her expectation that during her visit in Hengshui University, the two universities could deepen their understanding and explore more new areas of possible future cooperation.
Afterwards, participants from both sides discussed the relevant work of the cooperative education program and voted to approve the change of members of the Chinese-foreign Cooperative Education Program Management Committee.
On the afternoon of the 16th, 2023 Fall Meeting between UCM-HSU Teachers and Students was held grandly in the 14th Teaching Lecture Hall of HSU. All teachers and students of the cooperative program in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics attended the meeting, had warm and friendly exchanges and interactions with American guests.
This meeting was chaired by Dr. Qingxi Song. Dr. Yongqin Wang, Mr. Wenli He, Mr. Hu Li, Mr. Lianqiu Wei, Mrs. Yunyan Ma, Mr. Zhihua Liu and American guests took their seats on the rostrum. Mrs. Xiaoying Zhang and Dr. Phoebe McLaughlin served as on-site interpreters.
Dr. Yongqin Wang delivered a passionate speech. She spoke highly of the significance of both parties co-organizing this cooperative program, and hoped the two universities could further strengthen communication and exchanges as well as carry out deeper cooperation in teaching arrangements, scientific research, and students cultivation. At the same time, she also sincerely hoped that all students can cherish this precious learning opportunity, work hard to learn professional knowledge, comprehensively improve their abilities, cultivate international vision and scientific thinking, striving to grow into useful talents.
Dr. Laurel Hogue, Dr. Jeffrey Robertson, and Dr. Phoebe McLaughlin delivered speeches respectively. Mr. Lianqiu Wei delivered a speech on behalf of Mathematics and Computer Science College, which is the main organizer of the daily teaching and management work of the cooperative program. Representatives of program freshman and sophomore gave on-site speeches in English.
At the meeting, the two parties also watched the introduction videos of HSU and the UCM. The American guests and HSU leaders presented awards to program students with outstanding achievements in the study.
During the visit, the UCM delegation also visited the Binhu New Campus of our university which will be officially put into use soon, the production base of Hengshui Laobaigan Group which is our university’s scientific research and practice cooperation unit, the laboratory of the Life Sciences College, and Smart classrooms especially for cooperative program students, as well as offices prepared for the foreign teachers, etc. The delegation also discussed and communicated with program teachers. The American guests were full of praise for our university’s beautiful campus and its positive contributions to serving the local area based in Hengshui.
