Recently, the School of Earth Sciences and Engineering (SESE) at Nanjing University held an Academic Development and Strategic Planning Seminar—a Special Session on Internationalization Development Strategy—at the Xianlin Campus. Attendees included Dean Chen Tianyu, Deputy Director of the SESE International Cooperation Affairs Office Shohei Hattori, Ms. Ke Mengfan from the university's Office of International Affairs, and over a dozen international experts, scholars, and researchers working at the school. The meeting was chaired by Ms. Xu Shuyi from the SESE International Cooperation Affairs Office.
Strategic Vision and Gratitude
On behalf of the school, Dean Chen Tianyu expressed his heartfelt gratitude to all international faculty and staff for their hard work. He noted that Earth science research is inherently transnational; thus, deepening international cooperation is not only an inevitable requirement for academic development but also an important mission crucial to the sustainable development of human society. Deeply committed to its internationalization strategy, SESE has grown to become one of the schools with the largest number of international faculty members at Nanjing University. As this year marks the beginning of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the seminar was convened to discuss international development concepts, listen to the voices of international scholars, and pool collective wisdom to build a comprehensive, multi-level, and high-quality new framework for internationalization.
Action Plans for Scholar Support
Shohei Hattori, Deputy Director of the SESE International Cooperation Affairs Office, provided a detailed introduction to four major action plans designed to support the development of international scholars this year. He stated that since its establishment, the office has closely followed the practical needs of international faculty and students. This year, targeted assistance will focus on:
Providing guidance for international scholars applying for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
Facilitating two-way selection and interaction with outstanding prospective students.
Promoting the establishment of fully English-taught courses.
Supporting the initiation and cultivation of undergraduate research projects, such as the National College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program.
SESE will fully leverage its service and coordination capabilities to provide solid administrative support and institutional guarantees for international scholars to deepen their research and talent cultivation efforts.
Feedback and Collaborative Future
During the exchange, representatives of international scholars, including Professor Norman MacLeod and Professor Alex Nemchin, remarked that Nanjing University possesses a profound academic heritage and outstanding students, while SESE provides a broad professional platform to advance their research. They expressed hope that the school would further integrate high-quality resources with the international networks of foreign scholars to deepen cooperation in several areas:
Building regular cross-cultural academic exchange spaces, such as the "Morning Coffee" academic salon.
Broadening recruitment channels for short-term overseas visiting scholars and postdoctoral researchers.
Improving the communication mechanisms for English-language academic affairs information.
Together, these efforts aim to foster a flourishing, diverse academic community and support the high-quality development of the school's various endeavors.
In the discussion session, Dean Chen Tianyu and representatives from the International Cooperation Affairs Office engaged in in-depth communication and provided detailed responses to specific issues raised by international scholars, such as office facilities, international conference travel, campus system compatibility, and talent service guarantees. The lively on-site interaction led to a shared consensus on multiple optimization measures.
Concluding Remarks
Finally, in his concluding remarks, Dean Chen Tianyu pointed out that this special exchange meeting is a vital step in deeply advancing the internationalization of the discipline and building a global hub for attracting talent and intellectual resources. He stated that the school should use this seminar as an opportunity to fully integrate the international perspectives of foreign scholars with the advantages of NJU's research platforms, focusing on deepening collaborative innovation in frontier fields such as deep earth, deep sea, deep space, and Earth system science. He encouraged international scholars to act as a "bridge" for international cooperation, actively promote SESE overseas, and work together to create a high-level, international model of collaborative innovation among industry, academia, and research, thereby achieving a new pattern of mutually beneficial, high-quality development.
Credits:
Photos & Text: Xu Shuyi, Huang Yimiao
Review: Dong Ting
