Dr. Bai Xiaole, Executive President of (FOM) University, and his delegation paid a visit to the university on June 14. Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President Leng Changjian met with the guests and had a discussion to discuss the further promotion of international cooperation. The symposium was presided over by Vice President Xin Jie, a Standing Committee Member of the Party Committee.

Leng Changjian talked about the university's recent development and the promotion of Sino-foreign cooperation projects with Bai Xiaole and his delegation, as well as the ongoing consolidation of cooperation platforms, innovative cooperation concepts, and broadening of cooperation areas. He stated that Shandong Agricultural University places a high value on international cooperation and exchange work, particularly with global universities, research institutes, and enterprises to carry out international Industry, Education, Research, and Application depth cooperation, platform construction, research project cooperation, and talent training. It is highly regarded in Germany and even throughout Europe due to its advanced practical education concept, rich curriculum, and high-quality employment opportunities. Leng Changjian pointed out that this year marks the 20th anniversary of our two universities' cooperation, and he hoped that both sides would maintain close contact and seek win-win cooperation in order to cultivate more outstanding students who are ideal and down-to-earth, daring and good at what they do, and make new contributions to the global development of higher education.

FOM University, according to Bai Xiaole, focuses on cultivating the comprehensive qualities required for young students in the face of current digital transformation and new management trends in the future, and prioritizes the development of students' future abilities such as technological change and digital literacy, and has taken a solid step toward developing an integrating learning platform, and the cooperation project between the two sides will completed. We hope that both sides will take on the role of a bridge between the two countries' economic and academic communities, and that they will continue to work together and strive to contribute to the future mission.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the international joint education partnership between Shandong Agricultural University and FOM University in Essen, Germany. The university and FOM University began joint education in 2003, becoming the first batch of Sino-foreign cooperative undergraduate education institutions officially approved by the government of Shandong Province and Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. The cooperation is based on a two-campus model of cooperation between the two countries, with flexible and diverse teaching methods such as "German in delicate small-class teaching", "lectures by professors in big groups + tutorials by teaching assistants in modest classes".  Over the last 20 years, the two sides have jointly cultivated over 4,000 talents with a combination of "German language + professional skills + international view," and they have done well in various national and provincial teaching achievement exhibitions, interpretation competitions and Confucian classical cross-language recitation conferences. Every year, a large number of students are admitted to world-renowned universities in England, Germany, France, Australia and Switzerland across languages and majors, establishing a successful case of internationalized Sino-foreign cooperative education with a distinct cultivation mode and a high reputation in China.