On November 30th, 2010, Guangming Daily, one of China s most influential newspaper, interviewed Pu Yuzhong, President of Changzhou Univerisity. The following is the interview.
Days ago, Changzhou University signed with two local enterprises cooperation contracts, one of the enterprises setting up an research institute inside the univeristy. Up till now, CZU has signed agreements with over 20 municipal governments on science and technology cooperation, and held talks with more than 1200 enterprises about cooperation in research and development. How can a newly-renanmed university deepen the integration of teaching, researching and producing? To know the answer we interviewed Pu Yuzhong, President of CZU.
Journalist (short for J): How does CZU cross the barriers and cooperat with local enterprises in research and product development?
Pu Yuzhong (short for P): The renaming of a university is based on its orientation. CZU aims at a multi-disciplinary university with engineering, science and management programs and promotion of local economy and also the development of the Yangtze River Delta.
Against the background of petrol chemicals, CZU was born with the desire to serve the industry and have more contacts with the outside world. Being an affluent city in the Yangtze River Delta, Changzhou has fostered a platform of development, that is, the Science and Education Town cum the National University Science and Technology Park. Located in the Science and Education Town, CZU is supposed to lead the development of scientific research and drive the local economy.
J: What is the strength of CZU as a leader in the cooperation of teaching, researching and producing?
P: Besides the advantage of location, CZU is strong on its disciplines. Among its 30 postgraduate programs, five are in the engineering field. Following the industry restructuring in Changzhou, CZU will further develop four strong disciplines, namely, chemical engineering, material, mechanics and petroleum, stress the development of bio-pharmaceuticals, energy, environment safety, and IT. The university will also support the development of liberal arts, economics and the science of law. A multi-disciplinary platform will attract more intelligent people.
J: A common problem in the cooperation of teaching, researching and producing is that there often lacks an effective long-term relation between government, universities and enterprises. How does CZU deal with this problem?
P: In my opinion, teaching, researching and producing are integrated rather than divided. For example, about 8000 talents who are educated home and abroad gather at Changzhou Science and Education Town cum National University Science and Technology Park, where CZU is located, and over 300 universities and institutes cooperate here in teaching, researching and producing. Hence, a think tank for local enterprises.
To attract more talents to CZU, we timely put forward a concept of industrial professor with the slogan researching at CZU and founding enterprises in Changzhou . At present, more than 20 experts have joined CZU in developing disciplines and tutoring postgraduate students. Our teachers and postgraduate students are also involved in the research and development at the Science and Education Town. This reciprocal mechanism makes best use of the human resources, and benefits the three sides of government, universities and institutes, and enterprises.
J: Many cities are developing university science parks to attract more institutes, but the potential of cluster effects has not been tapped to the full. The slogan put forward by CZU is a nice try.
P: With the support of Changzhou Science and Education Town, CZU can develop fast. In October, CZU founded the Robotics Institute with the support of Academician Workstation set up by Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). Robotics research at CZU is therefore in line with the robot base of HIT, which greatly promotes the research and production. The slogan also helps CZU to attract more talents in the cutting-edge fields who will play a vital role in the development of CZU.
J: Many well-known universities in China are quickening their steps in such cooperation. How does CZU plan its next move?
P: The top universities dominate capital, talents, and facilities. To succeed, CZU must root itself in Changzhou and across Jiangsu, and we accordingly start a 111 project , which means that 100 excellent professors or PhDs are chose to work at local enterprises for a period of time; 100 bases of teaching, researching, and producing will be set up; 10 large enterprises will become our long-term close partners. While working with enterprises, we have formed 17 teams of scientific innovation, made many scientific achievements, and won many national and provincial awards and prizes.