On the afternoon of May 30, YSU held a meeting with the delegation from Naumburg, Germany in Conference Room 2103 of the Century Building. Vice President Chen Guoqiang attended the meeting and extended a warm welcome to the delegation on behalf of YSU. The two sides engaged in in-depth discussions on advancing inter-university cooperation and strengthening sister-city ties.
The delegation comprises eight members, including Daniel Sturm, a member of the Saxony-Anhalt State Parliament; Jörg Schütze, Chairman of the Naumburg City Council; Armin Müller, Mayor of Naumburg; and Markus Krabbes, President of Merseburg University of Applied Sciences (HoME). The accompanying officials were Gao Fan, Level IV Division Rank Official of Qinhuangdao Municipal Bureau of Foreign Affairs and Commerce, and Lu Xu, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Qinhuangdao Municipality. Director Lu Jun and Deputy Director Zhu Hong of the Office of International Cooperation of YSU also attended the meeting.
A scene from the meeting
President Chen noted at the meeting that both Qinhuangdao and Naumburg are renowned for their rich cultural heritage and tourism resources, which lay a solid foundation for cooperation between colleges and universities in both cities. He emphasized that YSU and HoME are highly complementary in engineering and technology, offering broad collaborative prospects. Chen hoped to take the delegation's visit as an opportunity to promote faculty and student exchanges, think tank cooperation, sister-city ties, and collaborative innovation of industries, universities and research institutes. He looked forward to strengthening the relationship between the two cities and achieving mutual benefit across multiple fields such as culture, education, and the economy through cooperation in education.
The German representatives highly appreciated the cooperation initiative and expressed a strong willingness to deepen collaboration on multiple fronts. Daniel Sturm highly praised YSU’s open approach to education, noting that it provides an excellent platform for international cooperation. Armin Müller regarded this visit as an important milestone in deepening friendship and looked forward to advancing further cooperation. Markus Krabbes emphasized the strong alignment in the two universities’ educational philosophy of combining theory and practice, as well as the great potential for collaboration in applied talent cultivation and research results commercialization. He expressed the hope that substantial cooperation between the two sides would soon be launched.
Gift presentation
During the exchange session, representatives from both sides engaged in constructive discussions on topics such as innovative models of educational cooperation, exploring approaches for city-to-city friendly exchanges, and the integration of university and enterprise resources to facilitate industry collaboration. Participants shared their views freely, creating a lively and engaging atmosphere. Following the meeting, the delegation visited YSU’s History Museum. As they toured the collection of historical photographs and artifacts, the members gained insight into YSU’s rich history and unique cultural legacy.
Group photo
This visit established a robust foundation for in-depth cooperation among YSU, Qinhuangdao City, Naumburg City, and HoME across multiple fields including education, culture, and industry. Looking ahead, the two sides will take culture as the bond and education as the bridge to continuously deepen and broaden their cooperation. This will create more exchange opportunities for faculty and students of universities in both cities and inject strong momentum into the long-term development of friendly relations between the two cities, jointly writing a new chapter in Sino-German international exchanges and cooperation.
