Earlier this week, the School of System Design and Intelligent Manufacturing (SDIM) at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) was the recipient of funding via the SUSTech Education Foundation (SUSTCEF) and Dongguan Haili Holding Group (Haili Group). As part of this donation announcement, SDIM announced a new adjunct professor.

SUSTech President Chen Shiyi, Haili Group General Manager Xu Xiaojun, SUSTCEF Secretary-General Tu Ronghui, Director of the Department of Polymer Engineering at Bayreuth University Volker Altstkaldt and SDIM Dean Wu Jingshen all attended the ceremony.

Tu Ronghui said that it is SUSTech’s mission to develop talent pipelines and industry-university research for the benefit of the Greater Bay Area. This donation has opened doors for cooperation between SUSTech and leading enterprises. He thanked all sectors of society for their continued support for SUSTech’s development.

Xu Xiaojun highly affirmed SUSTech’s exploration of new engineering education reform. He said that SUSTech and Haili Group would continue to cooperate in industry-university research to help the Greater Bay Area upgrade from a traditional manufacturing region to that of an intelligent manufacturing region. Their cooperation would serve the grand strategic goal of “Made in China 2025”.

At the ceremony, President Chen Shiyi appointed Volker Altstädt to the position of adjunct professor at SDIM. Volker Altstädt is currently a Member of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering, a tenured professor at the University of Bayreuth, and CEO of Bavarian New Materials GmbH. He has made great achievements in polymer composite materials, and has rich experience developing industry-university research platforms. His participation will not only bring cutting-edge technology to curriculum development at SDIM and across all engineering departments, but will also bring global experience in industry-university research cooperation.

SUSTech plays a leading role in China’s higher education reform. It has always attached great importance to the development of new engineering. Since its establishment in October 2018, SDIM has focused on carrying out undergraduate and postgraduate education with a new engineering training model. SDIM started teaching new engineering undergraduate courses, and has established the “Da Vinci Challenge Camp” with its new engineering education model. It has carried out many effective ventures in its development of new engineering.