President Pei Gang Attending the G8 University Summit to promote the Sino-Italian Design Cooperation

From 18^th to 19^th of May 2009, President Pei Gang was invited to attend the second edition of G8 University Summit held in Turin, Italy, and gave a keynote speech on behalf of Chinese Universities.

As an important activity in the education field before the G8 Summit, the G8 University Summit was held jointly by CRUI (Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane) and Politecnico di Torino. University rectors from G8 member states and also from China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Australia and so on were invited and have made discussion on topics of “Economy, Ethics, Energy and Ecology”, as well as the responsibilities of universities.

In his speech “The Way of Higher Education: A Worldwide Responsibility in Ethics for Chinese Universities”, President Pei Gang has mentioned:

“In the midst of different types of crises, the university ought to take on more commitments. Apart from passing on knowledge, it is furthermore expected to shape up mature and integrative personality of the educated and to foster in them a reverence to the Nature and the Universe. The university must persist with scientific researches and in the meantime act cautiously in dealing with possible predicaments in ethics. In line with the Chinese tradition, the first and foremost function of education is to cultivate the moral character and spirit of the educated, with its ultimate goal to reshape man’s human nature to perfection. In China, the traditional system of Shu Yuan was very much alike with that of the universities in modern times, a system that embodied the spirit of the Chinese tradition which paid attention to moral cultivation side by side with intellectual pursuit. Our universities must spread over such noble ideas as restraint, generosity and collaboration in the fulfillment of their duties closely related to human destiny. This is the common idea with regard to education shared by China and the West.”

President Pei Gang’s speech has gained unanimous recognition and enthusiastic response among the participating university rectors. The traditional Chinese ethics and the related responsibility the modern higher education organizations should carry have received a wide range of resonance among the participants.

The “Education and Research for Sustainable and Responsible Development - Turin Declaration” after the G8 University Summit will be given to the G8 Summit which will be held later in July this year. It will for sure promote the universities’ attending the world’s economic and social activities, and play a more important role.

From 18^th to 21^st of May 2009, President Pei Gang visited Italy. Besides attending the G8 University Summit and giving out keynote speech, he also visited Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Milano, and Italian enterprises like Fiat Group, Stile Bertone Car Design Company and so on, that have laid a very solid foundation for the all-directional promotion of Tongji University’s Sino-Italian cooperation in the field of Design and Automotive Engineering.

On May 19^th, President Pei Gang and President Profumo of Politecnico di Torino signed the agreement of establishing a Tongji Campus inside Politecnico di Torino, and held the unveiling ceremony of the campus, which is the first campus ever that Tongji University has had in Italy and also in Europe. Ever since 2005, the two universities have been developing a very good relationship in the cooperated projects through the platform of Sino-Italian Campus, such as the double-bachelor, double- master programs, exchange of teachers and students, joint education of Ph.D students and joint researches. The accompanying professors from College of Automotive Engineering and School of Design and Innovation have also met and discussed with School of Automobile Engineering, School of Architecture Design and Alta Scuola Politecnica. The Tongji Campus established this time is aimed to open a window for cooperation for Tongji University in Italy, in order to better coordinate the exchange between teachers and students, to further promote the cooperation between Tongji University and Italian universities, enterprises in the design and engineering field.

On May 20^th, President Pei Gang and the delegation visited Fiat Group in Turin, Italy, and met the Executive Vice President Ferrucio Luppi and the Vice HR Manager Mr.Maserati. As the most important Italian enterprise group, the 110-year old Fiat group has grown up to a famous international group with products comprising commercial car, passenger car, farm machinery, car installation kit and so on. Vice president Luppi introduced the lasted globalization strategy of Fiat, especially the acquisition of Chrysler and General Motor’s European business which will make Fiat among the top three car producers in the world. Mr.D’Agostino from Fiat Powertrains Shanghai R&D center also introduced the current business situation and future development strategies of Fiat Group in China, the Fiat China headquarter will also be moved to Jiading District within this year.

President Pei expressed his appreciation for the warm welcome, and introduced the achievements Tongji University has made in Automobile Engineering, New Energy Vehicles and Aerodynamics. He hoped that both sides can seize the good opportunity during the reallocation of the international automobile industry and the high paced development of Chinese automobile market; basing on the inter-faculty, academic advantage of the Tongji University as an integral university, especially in various fields like Automobile Engineering, Design and etc.; combining with the experience obtained in the recent years of academic cooperation with Italian partners of the Sino-Italian Campus, as well as the geographical advantage of both sides in the zone of Jiading; to establish a series of cooperation in aspects of Automobile Engineering Development and the training of talents in this area, and lead a good example for Sino-Italian, or Sino-European Cooperation between University and Industry.

After the meeting, President Pei and Mr.Luppi signed the Memorandum of Strategic Collaboration of Tongji University and Fiat Group. Professors from School of Automobile Engineering, Shanghai Automotive Wind Tunnel Center, School of Design and Innovation and Sino-Italian Campus have joined the meeting and the signing ceremony.

In the afternoon of 20^th May, the Tongji Delegation arrived at the foot of the Alps, to visit the Stile Bertone Car Design Company, where they were warmly greeted by the Vice Chairman of Board Ms Marie-Jeanne Bertone, CEO Sig. Gaudio and the core design team. Being an important automobile design and development group in Italy and in the entire world, who created the Lamborghini brand and also contributed many classic designs to the Alfa Romeo, Fiat and so on, the Bertone Company has emphasized the importance for their company to cooperate with Chinese academic and development institutions, as their business is expanding in China. President Pei expressed the willingness to cooperate with the Bertone Company in fields of automobile shape design, whole car design from part of School of Automotive Engineering, College of Art and Design of Tongji Unversity. Both sides agreed to combine the advantage of each other and to work out an effective mode of cooperation, to further strengthen both parts in the Chinese automobile industry.

In the evening of 20^th May, the President Pei headed to the Politecnico di Milano, and exchanged ideas about cooperation in fields of Fashion and Jewelry Design with the President Ballio, along with other professors from School of Architecture and School of Design. President Pei gave a detailed presentation of the background and strategy of the foundation of the School of Design and Innovation of Tongji University, and of the situation of the Design, Service and Industry Development Zone around Tongji. In the same time, he indicated out that it is essential to maintain a close cooperation with the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano and other related companies in this industry, in order to establish a world top design education and service platform. Both sides agreed to set the joint education and research in fields of fashion, jewelry and yacht design as the emphasis of the future cooperation, basing on the double master program in industrial design that both universities have already carried out. Both sides will combine the related industries in the two countries, face the market and aim at the training of high leveled international design and management talents.

Photos here.