On July 15 2017, a delegation of university professors, researchers and business leaders arrived at SUSTech. Vice President and Dean of the Graduate School Tang Tao welcomed them one by one as the group gathered in front of the administration building.

Among the guests were – Pierre Auger, Research Director of the French Institute for Development (IRD) – Austin Robert H, Professor of Princeton University – Boris Basok, Professor from the Institute of Engineering Thermo Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine – Bernard Dujon, Emeritus Professor at Univ. P. M. Curie and Institut Pasteur – Gary D. Lopaschuk, Professor and Vice President of Researches at the University of Alberta – Herve Le Treut, Professor at P. M. Curie University – Iurii Kulchin, Professor at the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences – Yvon Le Maho, Doctor of CNRS and University of Strasbourg – Mingyao Liu, Professor and Director of the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto – Marwan Jabri, Founder and CEO of Neuromorphic LLC, Adjunct Professor of Queensland University – Su-Seng Pang, Fellow of AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), ASME and SPE.

As well as professors Zhaoqi Wang, Ke Wu, Lei Xu, Ni-bin Chang, Zhibin Zhang and Xiaoxiang Zhu from various top universities and academies worldwide. All these visitors are members of the Academies of Sciences in their respective countries, and well known leading scientists. ​

There was also Yanxia Wang and Hai Chen acting as representatives of the authority of Qianhai district, Shenzhen. Aside from Tang Tao, the SUSTech representatives included Professor Xiaofei Chen, Chair of Earth and Space Sciences, Ke Liu, Chair of Chemistry, Zhihong Xia, Chair of Mathematics, Jiaqing He, Chair of Physics, Yongshun Chen, Chair of Ocean Science, Xin Yao, Chair of Computer Science, Yiming Rong, Chair of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, and Peng Dai, Deputy Director of the Human Resources office. The delegation was offered a quick presentation of the campus’ future development project in the model room to cool down from the sweltering heat, where they learned about the engineering and medical schools which are in construction.

The participants then headed to the meeting room 401 in the administration building where the talks were set to take place. Everyone settled in their assigned seats to listen to Tang Tao’s welcome speech and introduction of the university. During his speech, Professor Tang explained that SUSTech is a young university, but one that clearly aims to reach a world-class level in a short amount of time. He introduced some key figures about the faculty, including those attending the meeting, and highlighted the fact that most have PhD’s from the world’s top 100 universities. After his introduction, the group watched a short video presentation of the university to gain a better understanding of its history and present context.

After the introduction, the talks began. The visitors sparked very interesting topics which engaged both sides. For instance Professor Liu from Canada pointed out that one of the key characteristics of top universities is diversity, and that this is an important point to focus on for SUSTech if it wants to join the ranks of the top world institutes. Vice President Tang conceded that this was one of the ambitions of SUSTech, and that while attracting non-Chinese faculty has been successful, attracting non-Chinese undergraduates is more challenging. The group exchanged for almost one hour on topics ranging from grants, competition with other universities in the region, development strategy and interdisciplinary research. This last point revealed much enthusiasm from the various academics, with Professor Le Mahon from France engaging with Professor Yao to discuss the importance of robotics and artificial intelligence in his nature and animal conservation studies.

Overall the meeting was a great opportunity for everyone to know each other better, introduce new fresh ideas to the university leadership and make a first step towards building ties with top overseas institutions. After the meeting, the group was driven around the campus to visit the newly built research centers and the residential colleges before heading to the lunch buffet.

After the visit, Professor Yvon Le Maho from the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien shared his impressions of the university with us, saying “What struck me the most at first was the warm welcome, but also the professionalism: We received a lot of attention to every detail, but it was completely pressure-free, which gave us the feeling that we had plenty of time to get to know each other and discuss subjects in depth.

I was also very impressed by the dynamism which is reflected around the idea of innovation. I believe that with the links it possesses with the hi-tech industries, SUSTech and the city of Shenzhen are remarkably placed to develop a “new Silicon Valley” in China.”.