The 2021 Virtual Lecture on Intercollegiate Cooperation with Universities and Colleges along the “Belt and Road” was held in the afternoon on October 26th, with the purpose of enhancing the cooperation between Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance (SLU) and the universities and colleges along the “Belt and Road”, promoting the Erasmus Programme of the European Union and improving SLU faculty’s international communication skills. Head of the Centre for International Affairs at D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics, SLU’s partner for the Erasmus Programme, Marusya Ivanova Smokova-Stefanova, and the programme lead of the International Section of the Polish Cracow University of Economics Renata Wydmańska were invited to deliver a speech. Vice President of SLU Chen Jie attended the lecture and delivered a speech.
Chen recognized the outcomes that SLU had made in its participation in the Erasmus Programme, and raised requirements and expectations for the vision of implementing the programme. She said that SLU and its partners had jointly applied for 9 projects of the programme and had won approval, with 38 instructors and students exchanged between SLU and its partners on study, instructional and training projects as part of the programme. The programme has immensely promoted the faculty and student exchanges between SLU and its partners that are all located along the “Belt and Road”, and has become a signature programme in SLU’s cooperation with the universities and colleges along the “Belt and Road”. SLU will continue to strengthen the cooperation in the programme, explore communication and cooperation with these universities and colleges in faculty and student exchanges and research, and build a brand for such cooperation.
Marusya Ivanova Smokova-Stefanova presented a report on the Erasmus Programme between China and Bulgaria in the context of COVID-19, where he introduced the basics of the programme and its overall implementation in Bulgaria and China with a variety of data and case studies, elaborated on the success stories and best practices of the implementation of the programme, and provided an outlook on the next cooperation for the 2021-2027 period. Renata Wydmańska presented a report on the opportunities brought by the programme and international cooperation in the context of COVID-19, where she talked about how the programme was run in Poland and its effectiveness, and shared her thoughts about potential policy changes regarding the programme as a result of COVID-19 and potential cooperation in the programme going forward.
The lecture was chaired by Head of SLU’s International Affairs Division Tu Liping. It was held both online and offline, with over 60 participants at the lecture in person, including all the faculty members of SLU’s International Affairs Division and School of International Exchange, as well as the foreign affairs secretaries and some interested faculty members from SLU’s schools or colleges. The participants also interacted with the speakers after the lecture.
