The Forum for National Central City and University Development, hosted by Henan University (HENU), was held in Zhengzhou on July 18th morning. At this forum, many scholars and leaders focused on scientifically positioning the relationship between Zhengzhou’s construction as a national central city and university development, and expressed their wish to promote a benign interaction and win-win cooperation between Zhengzhou and HENU. Attenders were LV Bing, Deputy Investigator of the Education Department of Henan Province, SUN Xiaohong, Vice Mayor of Zhengzhou Municipal Government, and scholars majoring in related fields, namely, ZHENG Bingwen, Director of the Centre for International Social Security Studies (CISS) at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), DU Yang, Deputy Director of the Institute of Population and Labor Economics of CASS, BIE Dunrong, Dean of the Institute of Education, Xiamen University, and ZHOU Guangli, Executive Director of the Research Center for Evaluation of Renmin University of China. As the host, leaders of HENU, including LU Keping, SONG Chun-Peng, LIU Zhijun, XU Shaokang, and TAN Zhen, also were present at the forum.

In his speech, LU Keping, Party Secretary of HENU said, "We are determined to develop HENU’s Zhengzhou campus, which will officially open in the coming September, into a high-level international platform for education and cooperation, a high-end platform for scientific research and innovation, and a high-quality platform for talent development." Then he stressed, "More importantly, it will be a crucial part of Zhengzhou economic and social development."

SUN Xiaohong started her speech by giving a panorama view of Zhengzhou’s history, culture, infrastructure, and economic strength, by which she highlighted its advantage of a national-central-city-standard city. Then, SUN carried on with Zhengzhou’s willingness to cooperate with HENU for a shared future, mentioning that the city would take proactive roles in facilitating the construction and development of the campus.

Regarding construction-relating problems HENU faces, namely its unfamiliarity with the local policy environment and its weak infrastructure, LV Bing hoped that Zhengzhou could facilitate HENU’s Zhengzhou campus construction in policies, funds, and projects. At the same time, he encouraged HENU to integrate its advantages in talents, technology, and culture into Zhengzhou’s development.

In building Zhengzhou as a national central city, ZHENG Bingwen pointed out that education is still Zhengzhou’s Achilles heel that hinders. Furthermore, the opening of Zhengzhou Campus is conducive to Zhengzhou’s optimization of educational resources and improvements in education performance.

From the perspective of industrialization, DU Yang believed that Zhengzhou’s economy has entered the late stage of industrialization, so it is vital to support and continuously increase investment in higher education which is the cradle of innovation.

Considering the respective conditions of HENU and Zhengzhou University (ZZU), BIE Dunrong suggested that the two universities give a full play to their strengths for staggered development. He expressed his hope that HENU would leverage its merits as a comprehensive university and adopt a new educational approach to develop its Zhengzhou Campus into a creative, dynamic, and leading learning environment.

ZHOU Guangli said Zhengzhou should strongly support the two high-level universities, HENU and ZZU, to establish a high-quality regional higher education system in Henan Province.

In order to enhance Zhengzhou’s core competitiveness as a national central city, SUN Jing, Director of Office of Research Cooperation of the Bureau of Scientific Research Management of CASS, offered a proposal that the cooperation between Henan Normal University and the research institute should be accelerated to form a synergy of scientific research, talent training, and projects implementation.

LI Gengxiang, President of Henan Federation of Social Sciences Circles, suggested that Zhengzhou Campus should integrate itself into the development of Zhengzhou. At the same time, he added, HENU should also take full advantage of its traditional preponderance of humanity studies such as “Central Plains Studies”, “Song Dynasty Studies,” and “Yellow River Studies” to develop HENU into a highland of philosophy and social sciences in Henan Province.

For coordinated development, GU Jianquan, Dean of Henan Academy of Social Sciences, considered that it is vital for a university to take root in and integrate itself into the city that it locates.

According to the actual demands of Zhengzhou’s development, GENG Mingzhai, Dean of HENU Academy of Hinterland Development, pointed out that HENU would adjust and optimize its discipline structure to best serve the construction of Zhengzhou as a national central city.

In his summary speech, President SONG Chun-Peng analyzed the difficulties and financial problems faced by Zhengzhou Campus and expected Zhengzhou to provide uninterrupted support of funds and policies for HENU. After expressing his heartfelt gratitude to the experts for their valuable opinions and suggestions, he emphasized that HENU will eventually overcome the difficulties, seize the strategic opportunities and contribute wisdom to Zhengzhou’s development.

Vice President LIU Zhijun said that HENU will accelerate the construction of Zhengzhou Campus with stronger confidence and enthusiasm.

It is reported that, on 17th afternoon, some experts accompanied by leaders of HENU visited Zhengzhou Campus of HENU.