On September 10 2017, the Southern University of Science and Technology and the Kaisa Group held a ceremony to sign a strategic cooperation contract and hold a donation ceremony at the International Conference Hall of the Administrative Building of SUSTech. University Council Chairperson and Chairperson of the Education Foundation,Guo Yurong, SUSTech President and Vice Chairperson of the Education Foundation, Chen Shiyi, and Executive Vice President of the Kaisa Group and President of the Kaisa Technology Group Xing Tao attended the signing ceremony, which was presided over by Ye Qin, Vice Chairperson and secretary general of the education foundation and Chief Financial Officer of the university.

The goal of the agreement is to further develop the training of young talents, strengthen the bonds between education and industry, as well as academia and research, and lead innovation in the field. The establishment of the strategic partnership between SUSTech and the Kaisa Group will help to give full play to and integrate the advantages and resources of each other’s respective fields. Kaisa Group also donated 20 million yuan to the university’s Education Foundation. The donation was dubbed “Talent Fund” and “Academician Lecture Series” and will be invested to build SUSTech’s Industry and Advanced Materials Innovation Center, Innovation and Enterpreneurship Center and a number of other projects.

Chen Shiyi and Xing Tao jointly signed the agreement, and Guo Yurong received the 20 million yuan donation from the group.

Chen Shiyi and Xing Tao then jointly unveiled the Kaisa Group Advanced Materials Innovation Center and the Kaisa Group Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, two research platforms in which the two sides will pool resources and efforts to drive innovation, production and education.

Speaking at the signing ceremony on behalf of SUSTech and its Education Foundation, Guo Yurong thanked the Kaisa Group for its generous donation. She said that the university and the Shenzhen Municipal Government were on path to build an innovative university, and that after seven years of development, in student training, faculty introduction, scientific research, production and innovation, had already provided great value to the local economic development and achieved remarkable results. In 2014, during SUSTech’s early days, Kaisa had already donated 2 million yuan to the university which had been a strong gesture of support and recognition for the young university.

At the signing ceremony, Xing Tao lavishly praised the professors of the university on the occasion of Teachers’ Day on behalf of the Kaisa Group. He said that today’s signing of the strategic cooperation agreement with SUSTech marked the beginning of a new era of cooperation between higher education institutions and companies, and that the industry will use this opportunity to strengthen scientific research, personnel training, academic exchanges and educational practice, in the hope of boosting innovation and production efficiency. 

Kaisa Group Vice President Tang Shichuan, Vice President of the SUSTech University Council Li Fengliang, Vice President Wu Chuanyue, Vice President Tang Tao and relevant heads of departments also attended the ceremony.