On May 21, the delegation led by Mr. Wang Chao, Chairman of University Council of HUAT arrived in Belfort, France and began their visit to University of Technology of Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM). The visit was proposed by Mr. Allano, director of Science and Future Technologies of Peugeot Citroen Group, and also chairman of the board of UTBM, who visited HUAT last October. The aim of the visit is to strengthen bilateral relation and discuss programs of exchange students, joint-training model of graduates and advance the program of open labs between PSA Peugeot Citroen Group and HUAT, UTBM.
On the morning of 22nd, Mr. Gabor, director international office of UTBM and professor of computer science, had a meeting with the delegation and gave general information about UTBM. As a university famous for training engineers, he said UTBM is in the 5th position in the ranking of the best engineering school tailored to the business enterprises and industry needs. And in the 33rd position in the global ranking of 130 engineering schools around the world. Belfort, where UTBM is located and a important manufacturing base of Peugeot Citroen Group, is 400 kilometers away from Paris and close to the borders of Switzerland, Germany and France. Apart from Belfort campus, UTBM, as a highly internationalized university with 30% of its students from countries around the world, also has another two campuses in Sevenanse and Montbeliard. The university provides various degree education according social needs and has close relationship with industries, especially automotive industries. It is said university of engineers enjoy high reputation in France and only those excellent students who finish two years’ university courses can apply for such kinds of colleges. The graduates can obtain both a certificate of engineer and a master degree. This kind of education model is also widely accepted in Europe.
During the meeting, the two sides had a detailed discussion about exchange program and “3+2” joint-training model. Mr. Abbar-Turki, Professor and Dr. of computer science department of UTBM gave an introduction of the research platform of unmanned vehicles of UTBM. Presented were also Mr. Zhou Haiyin, dean of electrical and information college of HUAT and Mr. Hou Kun-Mean, professor of University of Blaise Pascal, France and also visiting professor of HUAT, who came from Clermont-Ferrand where they were working.
At noon, Mr. Brochet, president of UTBM and Mr. Allano came from Paris to attend the banquet with the delegation. Both the hosts and the guests talked over the table about the future cooperation model, including research and students exchange. Mr. Wang Chao expressed his thanks to Mr. Allano because it was he who played a role of bridge between the two universities and made the visit come true. Both sides also showed interests in setting up a joint-engineer college and applying for joint-program of degree education. The banquet ended up with a signing a memorandum of cooperation between two sides.
In the Afternoon, the delegation visited engineering labs on Sevenans campus, school of automobile design in Espera Sbarro and others schools and departments on Montbeliard campus. All the delegation members were deeply impressed by the research achievements, admirable hands-on abilities of the students. They think that what they have seen will provide reference to the future direction of research and development of HUAT. The delegation also visited Peugeot Museum in the evening.
