On June 16, the Unveiling Ceremony of NJIT-Oulu School, a Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run school of non-independent legal entity jointly declared by Nanjing Institute of Technology (NJIT) and the University of Oulu (UO) in Finland, was held in the Tianyin Conference Center of the High-tech Park. Mr. Olli Suominen, Counsellor of Education and Science, Embassy of Finland in China, Mr. Tapio Koivu, Vice Rector of the University of Oulu, Ms. Lukia Yang, Programme Officer of China Office of the Finnish National Agency for Education, Mr. Qian Wenhua, Vice President of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Committee Member of Foreign Affairs Office of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, Ms. Ru Yixian, Deputy Director of Office of Foreign Cooperation and Exchange of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, Mr. Xia Yan, Deputy Director of Foreign Affairs Office of Nanjing Municipal People’s Government, Mr. Liu Zheng and Ms. Zhang Xin from Office of Europe and Africa, Foreign Affairs Office of Nanjing Municipal People’s Government, and all leaders of NJIT’s University Committee attended the unveiling ceremony. The ceremony was presided by Deputy Chair of University Council of NJIT, Mr. Pu Lijie.

In his warm welcome speech, Mr. Shi Guojun, Chair of University Council of NJIT, reminisced the history and friendship between NJIT and UO, and reviewed the “hard-won and cherished” application process and outcome of NJIT-Oulu School. As he expressed, the official establishment of NJIT-Oulu School is a representative cooperation of Sino-Finland exchanges in higher education as well as Nanjing-Finland cooperation, marking a new stage of NJIT’s internationalization.

With regard to how to build an innovative platform for China-Finland exchanges and cooperation in higher education and explore a new mode of cultivating international engineering talents, Mr. Shi Guojun suggested NJIT-Oulu School to promote closer ties between NJIT and UO on the basis of respective advantages, adhere to the orientation of “serving major national needs, emphasizing cross-disciplinary integration, enhancing students’ engineering practical skills, and cultivating international application-oriented talents”, and by doing so, constantly innovate the mode of talent cultivation, solidly promote educational reform, and become the pioneer in international application-oriented engineering talents education. He expected the students from NJIT-Oulu School to be equipped with not only first-level engineering knowledge with global vision, proficiency in international rules, innovative minds, cooperative skills and teamwork spirits, but also become the bridges and messengers of Sino-Finland exchanges and cooperation. He hoped that the establishment of NJIT-Oulu School will bring the cooperation between NJIT and UO to a new height with further scope and more fruitful results.

While reviewing the profound friendship between China and Finland and the fond memories of cooperation and exchanges between the two universities, Mr. Tapio Koivu, Vice Rector of the University of Oulu, expressed his sincere congratulations to the official establishment of NJIT-Oulu School. As another major milestone on the cooperation journey, and two universities have witnessed the expansion of cooperation scale. He looked forward to seeing intensified research collaboration as well as education of master and doctoral degree students, and creating significant impact in both countries and globally by cultivating academically-proficient and skillful work force.

As Mr. Olli Suominen, Counsellor of Education and Science, Embassy of Finland in China, expressed, China and Finland have maintained long and solid relations over the years; with 7-year cooperation, Nanjing Institute of Technology and the University of Oulu jointly set up the undergraduate education program in Software Engineering, the current largest international education project for the University of Oulu, which proved to be highly attractive among students. The NJIT-Oulu School declared by the two universities on the basis of the program will be a big step forward for the educational and cultural exchanges between China and Finland. On behalf of the Embassy of Finland in China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland, he extended thanks to all personnel who have contributed to the establishment of NJIT-Oulu School and expected more achievements between the two universities in the future.

After extending warm congratulations on the approval of NJIT-Oulu School, on behalf of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, Ms. Ru Yixian, Deputy Director of Office of Foreign Cooperation and Exchange of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education, expressed that as the first Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run school between NJIT and UO, the NJIT-Oulu School marks a major event between China and Finland in the field of higher education exchanges and cooperation. NJIT has formed a distinctive feature of international exchanges and cooperation after years of exploration and practice, accumulated meaningful experience and played a positive role in strengthening cultural exchanges and deepening the comprehensive educational reform. Therefore, it is hoped that Nanjing Institute of Technology and the University of Oulu can continuously deepen the connotation of cooperation, utilize various resources, innovate modes of talent cultivation, and strive to build NJIT-Oulu School into a demonstrative school of educating international application-oriented engineering talents in Jiangsu Province. In the meantime, Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education will always support for the development of Nanjing Institute of Technology and NJIT-Oulu School.

Counselor Mr. Olli Suominen, Vice Rector Mr. Tapio Koivu, Mr. Qian Wenhua, Deputy Director Ms. Ru Yixian, Chairman Mr. Shi Guojun and President Mr. Shi Jinfei jointly unveiled the NJIT-Oulu School.

It is learned that NJIT-Oulu School, a Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run school of non-independent legal entity jointly declared by Nanjing Institute of Technology and the University of Oulu and approved by the Ministry of Education, is emerged from the previous “4+0” cooperative educational program in Software Engineering which began its enrollment in September 2018. In 2019, the two universities reached initial consensus on the establishment of a Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run school. In 2020, NJIT and UO officially launched the application work, they worked closely together and reached consensus on running mode, teaching plans, administrative structure, operation mode and other details after repeated and thoughtful negotiation. In 2021, two parties formally submitted the application materials to the Ministry of Education of China for approval, and successfully passed the expert group’s review and defense through multiple rounds of modification to application materials. The official approval of NJIT-Oulu School in May 2023 marks the new page between the partnership between NJIT and UO.

Delegation from the University of Oulu, directors of various functional offices, educational departments of NJIT, all middle-level cadres and relevant teacher representatives from the School of Computer Engineering, the School of Civil Engineering and the School of Environmental Engineering attended the Unveiling Ceremony.

Accompanied by Mr. Zhao Lifa, member of the Standing Committee of University Council and secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of NJIT, relevant guests visited the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the campus-based Tianyin Dreamworks Incubation Studio.