Xu Jianling delivers an online speech.

The 7th meeting of the China-CEEC (Central and Eastern European Countries) Higher Education Institutions Consortium was held both online and offline on December 2. Liu Limin, President of China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), Fang Jun, Deputy Director and First-class Inspector of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges of the Ministry of Education, and Vladimir Tomsik, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to China, and other guests attended the meeting. During the meeting, 10 communities, including the Community for the Construction of Engineering Disciplines led by Xi'an Jiaotong University, and the Community for the Construction of Economics Disciplines led by the Renmin University of China, were launched. As the leading university for the "Community for the Construction of Applied Technology Disciplines of China-CEEC Higher Education Institutions Consortium", Shenzhen Polytechnic was the only higher vocational college among the Chinese leading universities of these ten communities.

Xu Jianling, President of Shenzhen Polytechnic, extend his congratulations on the successful establishment of the "Community for the Construction of Applied Technology Disciplines of China-CEEC Higher Education Institutions Consortium" in his online speech. He expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Education of the PRC and CEAIE for their support and trust. Shenzhen Polytechnic will invite the Technical University of Sofia (Bulgaria) as its joint leading university in Europe. At the same time, it will invite universities such as the Plovdiv University (Bulgaria), the Gdansk University of Technology (Poland), the Széchenyi István University (Hungary), and the Algebra University College (Croatia) to join the Community. Shenzhen Polytechnic will ensure solid work in building the Community. Through the platform, we will keep expanding the membership of the Community and build a cooperation network, enjoy high-quality education resources and cultivate high-level talents together, and strengthen university-industry cooperation and promote regional common economic development.

In November 2013, Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of China, attended a meeting of China-CEEC leaders in Bucharest, Romania. During the meeting, China and 16 countries in Central and Eastern Europe published the Bucharest Guidelines for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries. In order to implement the spirit of the Bucharest Guidelines, the China-CEEC Higher Education Institutions Consortium (hereinafter referred to as the "Consortium") was officially established in September 2014 under the framework of the China-CEEC Education Policy Dialogue  with the strong support of the Ministry of Education. The Chinese Secretariat of the Consortium is located at CEAIE. At present, the main member units of the Consortium include 240 universities from 43 countries and regions, including the University of Shkodra in Albania, the University of Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Sofia University in Bulgaria, the Peking University, the Renmin University of China, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shenzhen University, and Shenzhen Polytechnic.

(Text by Jasmine Li, International Exchange and Cooperation Office)