Campus & Community

Stevens and China’s Tsinghua University Celebrate Cooperation Agreement

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Stevens and Tsinghua Leadership Outside the Stevens Gatehouse. From Left to Right: Matt Libera, Jean Zu, Lin Zhang, Rainer Martini and Annie Song.
Stevens and Tsinghua Leadership Outside the Stevens Gatehouse. From Left to Right: Matt Libera, Jean Zu, Lin Zhang, Rainer Martini and Annie Song.

Academic leaders from both universities meet at Stevens Hoboken campus

Stevens Institute of Technology and Tsinghua University in China signed an agreement to promote joint educational initiatives involving the two schools.

Officials from Stevens and Tsinghua—ranked as China’s top university and 25th best in the world by QS Top Universities—met on January 16 at the Stevens Hoboken campus to tour the school, meet institutional leaders, and finalize a memorandum of cooperation.

Building on an initial visit in October, the Tsinghua cohort of dean Lin Zhang and administrative director Annie Song came back to Stevens to further discuss joint benefits to each school’s students. The goal is to create joint Ph.D or co-Ph.D. programs as well as dual M.S. degrees. The initial focus is on the School of Business, but Tsinghua is also interested in exploring opportunities for SES cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and deep learning programs. Additional possibilities in sustainability management and construction management, as well as sharing course credits toward graduate certificate programs were discussed.

Dean Jean Zu of the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering and Science (SES) led the Tsinghua cohort on a tour of the Stevens campus and key SES labs. The Tsinghua cohort visited the PROtotype Object Fabrication (PROOF) Lab and Davidson Laboratory, and learned more about research activities in pillar areas such as biomedical engineering, resilience and sustainability and quantum computing.

Close up of fingers examining bioprinted skinLin Zhang examines a 3D printed hand form.Raju Datla leads Zhang and Song on a tour of the Davidson Lab.Raju Datla leads Zhang and Song on a tour of the Davidson Lab.Christos Christodoulatos explains an environmental engineering project in the Nicholl Laboratory to Lin Zhang, Annie Song and Jean ZuChristos Christodoulatos explains an environmental engineering project in the Nicholl Laboratory to Lin Zhang, Annie Song and Jean Zu.

Zu said that "collaboration with Tsinghua University will provide Stevens’ students and faculty fantastic international opportunities and experience to work with the best in the world," which she is confident will "move SES to a new level of excellence."

The first phase of this partnership will be an 8-week summer program. Tsinghua undergraduate students will study at Stevens in a variety of areas. The end goal is a dual degree graduate program where graduate students would spend four years at Stevens, one year at Tsinghua and one final year at Stevens, earning two master’s degrees.

Zu is the champion of this partnership, and looks forward to building a solution that helps position both universities in a place of excellence.

Annie Song, Dean Zu and Lin Zhang on campus, with downtown Manhattan in the background.Annie Song, Dean Zu and Lin Zhang on campus, with downtown Manhattan in the background.