A delegation from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) spent Friday, December 10, 2010, on campus meeting with University of Wisconsin-Madison representatives and touring campus sites.
The seven-member delegation was led by SJTU President Zhang Jie.
Shanghai Jiaotong is one of the most prestigious universities in China. This public research institute is a member of the “C9 League,” or China’s top nine universities, and is known for its strength in engineering. SJTU also produces the Academic Ranking of World Universities, which currently lists UW-Madison as 17th in the world.
The delegation enjoyed sunny skies and a winter coating of snow during their day on campus. They heard presentations about the University Research Park and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, and toured the new Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery. Delegation members also met with UW-Madison representatives of the College of Letters & Science, the Law School, the Graduate School, the College of Engineering, the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, and the La Follette School of Public Affairs.
SJTU already has strong connections to the UW-Madison’s mathematics department and also extensive ties with the Law School, including a dual-degree relationship that allows SJTU students to earn credits in Madison for an LLM degree. For this delegation’s visit, the emphasis was on learning more about the UW-Madison’s strength in patenting and protecting the faculty’s scientific discoveries and innovations, and in creating opportunities to transfer such work to the commercial sector.
“We are attracted by many positive stories about the University of Wisconsin and especially the Wisconsin Idea,” said SJTU President Zhang Jie. “We want to explore possibilities for collaborations.”
Photos by Pauline Zhu, Division of International Studies