On October 22, a delegation from RWTH Aachen University visited the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo (EIT). Prof. Dongxiao Zhang, Executive Vice President and Provost of EIT and Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and Prof. Chunmiao Zheng, Vice President of EIT met with the delegation for in-depth talks on the development of higher education, collaborative research and innovation, talent development, and faculty and student exchanges.
On the same day, at a commemorative event marking the 40th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Ningbo and Aachen, Prof. Chuanwu Xi, Vice Provost for Global Engagement in EIT, and Professor Kai-Uwe Schröder, Chair of the Senate and Rector's Delegate for Collaboration with China at RWTH Aachen University, signed the cooperation agreement on behalf of the two institutions. Mr. Mingquan Shen, Deputy Secretary of Ningbo Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Ningbo, and Dr. Michael Ziemons, Mayor of Aachen, attended the event.
Signing ceremony
Prof. Dongxiao Zhang delivers an address
Prof. Zhang welcomed the delegation. He noted that Aachen and Ningbo established sister-city ties in 1986 and have deepened their exchanges and cooperation over the four decades since, and that the two cities' deep industrial roots provide a solid foundation for collaboration between the two universities. RWTH Aachen University, he said, enjoys a global reputation in mechanical engineering, materials science, and energy technology — fields that dovetail closely with EIT’s academic portfolio — while Ningbo's mature, comprehensive advanced-manufacturing clusters offer fertile ground for industry–academic-research collaboration. He expressed hope that the two sides would use the signing as an opportunity to deepen collaboration in joint curricula and research, joint student training, and faculty and student exchanges, and to work together to advance engineering education, research innovation, and the technology transfer into real-world impact.
Prof. Chunmiao Zheng delivers an address
Prof. Zheng introduced EIT's academic development. As a new type of research university that is "High-caliber foundation, Compact yet distinguished, Research oriented and Globally engaged", the university places great emphasis on internationalization and has established institutional partnerships with a number of world-class universities, including the University of Notre Dame and the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the United States, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. A number of concrete programs have already been launched, including collaborative Ph.D. training and undergraduate exchanges, and he said he looked forward to pursuing concrete, project-based collaboration with RWTH Aachen University.
Prof. Schröder delivers an address
Prof. Schröder outlined RWTH Aachen's history, distinctive academic profile, and longstanding cooperation with China. He said the university places great value on its long-term partnerships with Chinese universities, and that EIT's positioning as a "High-caliber foundation, Compact yet distinguished, Research oriented, Globally engaged" institution resonates closely with RWTH's own academic ethos. He looked forward to the two universities leveraging their complementary strengths in engineering and technology, translating shared intentions into concrete projects, and creating more platforms for exchange and collaboration for their faculty and students.
At the symposium
The two sides agreed that the two universities share a strong foundation for cooperation in engineering and research innovation, and that they will move quickly to refine implementation plans in areas of shared interest so that practical cooperation delivers tangible results.
Prof. Chuanwu Xi presided over the meeting, and Prof. K. Jimmy Hsia, Special Advisor to the President, also attended. During the visit, the delegation toured the EIT campus, including the AI & automated chemistry laboratory and the All-Solid-State Battery Laboratory, where they learned in detail about campus development, research infrastructure, and progress in frontier research — visits that identified practical entry points for future research collaboration.
Held in the 40th-anniversary year of the Ningbo–Aachen sister-city relationship, the visit and the signing mark a new, institutionalized and substantive phase of engagement between EIT and RWTH Aachen University. EIT will continue to expand its cooperation network with leading international universities, actively pursue open and collaborative models of internationalization, and build multi-level, broad-based international cooperation platforms for its faculty and students.
About RWTH Aachen University
Founded in 1870, RWTH Aachen University is one of Germany's oldest and largest technical universities. It is a University of Excellence under Germany's Excellence Strategy and a member of TU9, the alliance of nine leading German technical universities. The university is renowned for its strength in engineering and technology, with world-class disciplines in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, materials science, and energy technology. Ranked 90th in the world in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2027, it is among the leading science and engineering universities in Germany and Europe, and it maintains close partnerships with research institutions and enterprises across the globe.
