The 16th UM-SJTU Joint Institute Board Meeting was held via video conference at both the University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University on 8 a.m. December 4, 2014, Beijing time (7 p.m. December 3, Ann Arbor Time).
SJTU representatives consisted of Sixian Jiang, Chairman of the SJTU Council, President Jie Zhang, Lisa Xu, Vice President for Education, and Hong Mei, Vice President for Research, as well as deans of the JI and related SJTU schools. Attendees at the University of Michigan included President Mark Schlissel, James Holloway, Vice Provost for Global and Engaged Education, Jack Hu, Interim Vice President for Research, David Munson Jr., Dean of the College of Engineering. All APG members of both UM and JI were present. President Zhang and Vice Provost Holloway co-chaired.
President Zhang and Provost Martha Pollack introduced the attendees from each side. The minutes of the 15th board meeting were approved.
Dean Huang presented an update on JI’s status, including student recruitment and graduate placement, faculty hiring and retention, research development, preparation for ABET accreditation, expansion of current JI facilities, and construction of the new JI building. He reported that both the JI-UM Ross 4+1 Program and the JI-KTH 3+2 Program will begin in fall of 2015; JI has been gearing up for the ABET on-site evaluation next fall; JI’s fundraising campaign has succeeded in raising nearly 10 million RMB from philanthropists Mr. Yu Liming and the Lums. Dean Huang also pointed out JI’s challenges such as financial sustainability, restriction in physical space, cross disciplinary research, international student recruitment, and quality improvement.
Dean Huang also updated on the progress of the new Material Sciences and Engineering (MSE) program. The program is going well in collaboration with SJTU’s MSE department, with shared facilities, joint appointments, and joint committee for management. Many issues of the proposed JI-UM Ross School of Business 4+1 program were addressed during the board meeting. The new program has already generated great interest among JI student s and parents and will kick off next summer.
In their closing remarks, President Schlissel expressed his pleasure to be part of UM’s collaboration with JI which is UM’s most important partner in education and research, and he looked forward to visiting SJTU next summer; Chairman Jiang was gratified to see that the Joint Institute continues to make progress under the leadership of Dean Huang. He hoped the collaboration between the two universities in internationalization, research, and disciplines will progress to a new phase of UM-SJTU JI 2.0 in the next 8 to 10 years.
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