On the morning of November 20th, Professor Loh Ai Poh, the Program Director of the Engineering Design and Innovation Center at the National University of Singapore, visited the School of Arts of Chongqing University. Peng Xiaoxi, Xia Jinjun, vice deans of the School of Arts, Sun Junqiao, director of the Department of Design, He Gonglin, deputy director of the Department of Design, Li Gang, director of the Metaverse Research Center, Tang Xuelin, teacher from the Department of Design, and Duan Xinyi, the foreign affairs secretary, participated in this exchange symposium. The meeting was chaired by Peng Xiaoxi.
The School of Arts had initially contacted the National University of Singapore through an online video conference in March 2023 and carried out exchanges on the intention of project cooperation, which laid the foundation for this face-to-face meeting.
Professor Loh Ai Poh first visited the Student Interdisciplinary Innovation Center of Chongqing University and the laboratories of the School of Arts, and then went to the Conference Room 409 of the office building of School of Arts for a discussion and exchange. At the meeting, Peng Xiaoxi welcomed Professor Loh Ai Poh's visit. She pointed out that the School of Arts had been always committed to cultivating design talents with an international perspective and innovative ability. This meeting was the first face-to-face discussion after the online exchange meeting in 2023 and would help promote the substantive cooperation between the School of Arts of Chongqing University and the Engineering Design and Innovation Center of the National University of Singapore in areas such as the cultivation of design talents and scientific research. Loh Ai Poh introduced in detail the undergraduate and master's programs of the Engineering Design and Innovation Center of the National University of Singapore. She emphasized that the cultivation of design thinking and innovative ability was the core educational concept of the Engineering Design and Innovation Centr of the National University of Singapore. Through practical project experiences, students could apply the knowledge they had learned to solve problems in a real working environment. Sun Junqiao introduced the basic situation of the Department of Design of the School of Arts, including the professional curriculum settings, teaching concepts and the progress and achievements made in international cooperation and exchanges in recent years.
During the discussion and exchange, both sides agreed that the two universities had both commonalities and their own characteristics and advantages in the concept of cultivating design talents, and conducted in-depth discussions on the future cooperation model. Professor Loh Ai Poh expressed her appreciation for the rich teaching resources and strong academic atmosphere of the School of Arts and put forward cooperation suggestions such as student exchanges, joint teaching programs and mutual visits of teachers and researchers from both sides. This offline meeting will further promote the in-depth and practical project cooperation between the two universities in the development of design disciplines, talent cultivation and academic exchanges.
