On the morning of March 24, 2026 SSPU Global Partnership Week kicked off at Academic Exchange Center. Themed by Intelligent Future: Industry-University-Research Integration and Talent Development in the AI Era, the event was attended by Li Weiping, Secretary General of International Education Association Shanghai (IEAS), as well as presidents, experts, scholars and representatives from 26 universities across 16 countries and regions worldwide. SSPU Party Secretary Lu Min, President Xie Huaqing and Vice President Bai Jianfeng, together with heads of relevant departments and schools, faculty and student representatives participated in the event as well. The opening ceremony was presided over by Vice President Bai Jianfeng.

On behalf of IEAS, Mr. Li Weiping extended congratulations on the opening of this year’s Global Partnership Week. He noted that over the more than 60 years since its founding, SSPU has adhered to its school-running orientation of cultivating applied talents, nurturing a large number of outstanding professionals for Shanghai and the whole country. In recent years, the university has further deepened the comprehensive reform of education, achieving remarkable results in building bridges for cross-cultural communication, expanding global cooperation networks and exploring distinctive cooperation models. Centered on the theme of Intelligent Future, the Global Partnership Week focuses on the education empowered by artificial intelligence and digital technologies, serving as an important platform for global educators to engage in dialogue, collaboration and innovation. IEAS will continue to play its role as a bridge and link to support the university and other local educational institutions in expanding high-level, substantive and diversified exchanges and cooperation, and jointly contributing to the high-quality development of education in Shanghai and global science, education and academic exchanges.

Federico Delfino, Rector of University of Genoa (UniGe), Italy, delivered a speech as the representative of global partner guests. He stated that as an old friend with a profound friendship with SSPU, he deeply feels the innovative vitality and solid progress in international cooperation at SSPU during each visit. He highly praised the university's achievements in promoting industry-education integration and transferring cutting-edge technologies into educational practice, noting that these achievements form a solid foundation for deepening cooperation between the two universities. He expressed the expectation to take this Global Partnership Week as a new starting point to further expand practical cooperation between the two sides in talent cultivation, scientific research and innovation, join hands to address the challenges of the times to draw a new blueprint for an intelligent future.

Xie Huaqing extended a sincere welcome to all guests attending the Global Partnership Week. He briefed on SSPU's development in recent years, with a special focus on the progress and achievements made in international exchanges and cooperation over the past five years. He pointed out that the university has always adhered to the philosophy of open education and continuously expanded its global circle of friends, yielding fruitful results in joint scientific research, teacher and student exchanges, and talent cultivation. Going forward, the university will further deepen practical cooperation with global partners and elevate the opening-up of education to a new level.

During the signing ceremony, President Xie Huaqing signed a cooperation agreement on SSPU-UniGe Joint Laboratory on Intelligent Energy with Rector Federico Delfino, University of Genoa (UniGe), Italy, and a Memorandum of Understanding with Simon Nash, Vice President of Manukau Institute of Technology and Unitec (MIT and Unitec), New Zealand. The signings were witnessed successively by Secretary General of IEAS Mr. Li Weiping, SSPU Party Secretary Mr. Lu Min, and Partnerships Manager of MIT and Unitec Ms. Ding Jialu.

At the certificate awarding ceremony for approved programs of 2025 Shanghai Sci-tech Co-research Program, Party Secretary Lu Min and President Xie Huaqing jointly presented certificates to the representatives of each project. Launched by Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology in 2025 as a new international scientific and technological cooperation program, 8 out of 169 approved programs citywide were jointly applied by SSPU research teams and foreign young scholars in 2025, demonstrating the university's vibrant momentum in international scientific research cooperation.

At the Theme Forum held on the afternoon of March 24, representatives from global partner institutions delivered keynote speeches centering on the event's theme, including Federico Delfino, Rector of University of Genoa, Ko Tzu-Hsiang, President of Lunghwa University of Science and Technology, Galina Ivanova, Vice Rector of University of Ruse, Liisa Timonen, Board Member of Karelia University of Applied Sciences, and Xingyu Chen, Education Export Coordinator of South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences.

On the day of the opening ceremony, participating representatives also took a campus tour to the Smart Manufacturing Factory Laboratory, Industrial Robot Laboratory, Collaborative Innovation Platform for Intelligent Computing, Excellent Work Exhibition Hall of School of Art and Design, and International Student Dormitory, etc.

A series of events will be held during the Global Partnership Week, including Academic Salon, Study Abroad Fair, Partnership Development, Chinese cultural experience -Tea Ceremony and city tour.

First held in 2014, the annual Global Partnership Week has become an important platform for SSPU to deepen international exchanges and cooperation. The event aims to better promote the university's educational philosophy, develop education globalization programs, build a platform for teacher and student exchanges, and elevate the university's level of educational opening-up and global influence. Looking to the future, Shanghai Polytechnic University will continue to uphold the philosophy of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, actively explore new paths and models for global exchanges and cooperation, continuously improve its school-running level and quality, and strive to write a new chapter in the high-quality development of educational opening-up in the new era.