International outlook and Party building bring assets to university

Founded in 1906, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, was among the first universities in China to practice international cooperative teaching.

The roots of the Sino-German College at the university can be traced back to 1985, when the USST and German universities began exchange visits. Since 1998, the USST has enrolled students for its Sino-German cooperative education program.

In 2018, the Sino-German College of the USST led the establishment of Sino-German Cooperation University Alliance, which plays an important role in promoting the internationalization of higher education in China.

In 2004, the university's two majors－electrical engineering and automation, and mechanical design and manufacturing and automation－passed the evaluation of international degree accrediting body the German Accreditation Agency for Study Programs in Engineering, Informatics, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, or ASIIN. According to the university, it is the first in Asia to receive an ASIIN accreditation.

"Systematic Party building is a concrete embodiment of the university's construction," said Wu Jianyong, Party secretary of the USST.

In the face of the complex and changing international situation, the Sino-German College of the USST will rely on the platform of Party building to cultivate talents for the country and promote education internationalization to a new level, according to Wu.

In 2010, the Party branch of the Sino-German College joined hands with the general Party branch of Linfen Street in Shanghai's Jing'an district, to combine Party building theory with practice.

Back then, Linfen Street had been given the task of receiving foreign guests for Expo 2010 Shanghai China. It was in urgent need of volunteers who could help residents communicate with the foreign guests.

The cross-cultural communication and foreign language skills of the teachers and students of the Sino-German College helped solve the urgent problem of the branch.

After that, the two sides signed a series of agreements on joint Party building, focusing on promoting each other in organizational construction, expanding and improving the functions of primary Party organizations, regularly exchanging experience in Party building and adhering to combining Party building theory with practice.

For instance, during the prevention and control of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Party members of the Sino-German College took the initiative to do volunteer work at the Linfen Street branch and helped translate the street's home quarantine instructions into German.

The Party branch of the USST's Sino-German College also began exchanges with the Party branch of Shanghai No 1 High School in 2018.The two sides became partners in Party building in December 2019.

As joint Party building becomes an important method to promote specific work, the university and the high school have strengthened cooperation in multiple aspects. This includes attracting students, student mental health education and international educational exchanges and cooperation.

In July 2020, the two sides held the signing and unveiling ceremony of the quality student recruitment base of the USST, which is under construction. The Shanghai No 1 High School became the first quality source of USST students in 2020.

Li Jun, Zhu Lihong and Xu Jingwei contributed to this story.