On April 19th, the first meeting of the Henan University-Victoria University Joint Management Committee in 2021 was held online in Conference room 152 of the Administration Building of Jinming Campus in HENU. HENU representatives at the meeting were Tan Zhen, Vice President, Ma Bin, Director of Financial Affairs Office, Wang Peng, Deputy Director of International Affairs Office, Hu Deling, Party Secretary of International Education College, Ma Xiaoyong, Dean of International Education College. VU representatives were Steve Berridge, Senior Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Global,  Romana Garma, Dean of Business School, Farzad Khosrowshahi, Dean of College of Engineering and Science, Caryn Nery, Director of TNE Partnerships. Besides, other relevant principals from HENU and VU took part in the meeting.

To start with, Tan Zhen paid high tribute to the hard efforts and impressive results jointly made by both teams in combating the pandemic and assuring the high-quality development of the TNE programs and described major achievements recently made by HENU. HENU was ranked 97 on “2020 Best Chinese Universities Ranking”, compared with 143 in 2019. The Shenzhen Research Institute and Sanya Research Institute established by HENU are working with the top domestic universities for the jointly training of graduate students. Also, School of Agriculture was re-founded, and Artificial Intelligence College and Rural Revitalization Research Institute were set up with the aim to better serve local economic and social development and national strategy.Tan Zhen also hoped to strengthen the cooperation between the two sides in the 14th Five-Year Plan of HENU.

Steve Berridge noted that VU has witnessed rapid progress in both teaching and research, and VU graduates have been ranked as having the most employable skills in Australia. Besides, a brand new building in the City Campus has opened, and more scholarships are to offered in VU, striving to provide better conditions for joint program students.

At the meeting, the members of the Joint Management Committee discussed the operation and effectiveness of the program, student's academic performance, and risk management. Based on the 2020 CEAIE diagnostic evaluation report and expert rectification recommendations, the committee has made in-depth discussion and reached an agreement on strengthening the teaching quality control, conducting students’ feedback on teaching quality, and building a bidirectional professional development platform for teachers. The priorities for the Joint Management Committee in 2021 were also discussed in the meeting, such as the renewal of the General Agreement and MOE program re-approval. It is hoped that the path of cooperation between the two sides will become broader and more fruitful with a promising future.

Contribution: International Education College