Shanghai Maritime University marks 20 years of Chinese-French joint graduate program

Shanghai Maritime University held a ceremony and academic symposium on Oct 22 to mark the 20th anniversary of its Chinese-French joint graduate program, reviewing two decades of cooperation and providing a platform for academic exchange.

Professor Didier Trichet delivers a speech during the ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of Shanghai Maritime University's Chinese-French joint graduate program on Oct 22. (Photo: China Daily)

The program began in 2006, when the university signed an agreement with Polytech Nantes to launch its first joint graduate program offering a foreign degree. Over the past 20 years, it has trained more than 100 master's graduates with dual Chinese and French degrees, and more than 20 students have gone on to doctoral studies in France. Faculty and student exchanges have become routine, and the partnership has produced a range of high-level research results.

At the event, representatives from the university's Graduate School and College of Logistics Engineering presented commemorative certificates to French representatives. A video message from program founder Professor Wang Yide was played, in which he recalled the program's original aims and encouraged young students to make full use of the platform.

The academic symposium featured French professors discussing fuel-cell electric vehicle design and optimization, offshore wind power systems and wind farm control, short-term forecasting and management of residential electricity use, stability and power quality in DC microgrids, and predictive maintenance for electromechanical systems.

The university's Vice-President Yin Ming expressed the expectation that both sides would take the 20th anniversary as a new starting point to deepen research collaboration, industry-academia integration and talent exchanges, and explore new models for cultivating top innovative talent.

Professor Didier Trichet, speaking for the French side, said the program has helped students grow in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary environments. He affirmed the Chinese team's hard work and voiced hope that the two schools would work together to bring cooperation to a new level.