The 13th UM-SJTU Joint Institute Board of Directors Meeting was held at Shanghai Jiao Tong University on June 1, 2010. President Zhang Jie of SJTU and Philip J. Hanlon， Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of University of Michigan (UM) co-chaired the meeting. Attendees in Shanghai included SJTU representatives Ma Dexiu, Chair of University Council, Lin Zhongqin, Executive Vice President, Zhang Wenjun and Huang Zhen, Vice Presidents, Xu Fei, Deputy Party Secretary, UM representatives Susan M. Collins, Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, William N. Lanen， Associate Dean for Global Initiatives, Ross School of Business, James Holloway， Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, College of Engineering, Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Dean for Entrepreneurship, College of Engineering, and all members of the JI Academic Program Group (APG). Attending the meeting via videoconference from University of Michigan were Mary Sue Coleman, UM President, David C. Munson, Dean of Engineering, Frank Ascione, Dean of Pharmacy, Jim Penner-Hahn, Associate Dean for Budget, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
After Review and approval of the minutes from the board meeting in October 2011, Dean Ni presented the State of JI, including a detailed financial report of the past few years, statistics on student recruitment and placement, recruitment and needs of faculty and staff, international program, progress of JI Building, and fundraising plan.
The next item on the agenda is the report on the Strategic Planning process for future JI expansion and growth and the discussion on Partnership Agreement and JI agreements. Two parties will sign a 10-year contract to fulfill the agreements, including the establishment of guiding principles and formation of a Partnership Board with high-ranking members from both SJTU and UM, which will appoint a Partnership Facilitator and a Working Group to act as an operation group of the partnership and represent major programs/activity agreements between the institutions.
According to the Joint Institute Agreement, JI will work collaboratively with SJTU administration to establish Regulations of Management as a special educational zone within SJTU, which will be reviewed and approved by the Partnership Board.
The board members then spent 40 minutes discussing JI’s possible future expansion. Based on mutual interests and feasibility study, a few disciplines were proposed, such as pharmacy, business, aerospace engineering, and chemical engineering, and will have to be approved by the Partnership Board.
The board members came to the following Action Plan:
1. Creation of Regulations of Management on faculty hiring, evaluation, and promotion, program requirement development, and financial and business management. A task force (JI, SJTU, UM) will be appointed to complete the task by September 1, 2012.
2. Appointment of UM-SJTU Working Group and Partnership Facilitator.
3. Expansion of Academic Disciplines: development of proposals and feasibility reports and approval process.
Madame Ma and President Coleman made closing remarks. Both of them were very excited about signing the UM-SJTU Strategic Partnership Agreement (2012-2022) and looked forward to working together in the next 10 years. They expressed confidence in JI’s future development and the cooperation between the two universities.
