SWJTU-Leeds Joint School celebrates a decade of engineering excellence

The University of Leeds and Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU) have marked the 10th anniversary of its Joint School of Engineering and Computer Science.

The Joint School in Chengdu is a successful partnership between Leeds and SWJTU that delivers world-class teaching and research.

Since its establishment the Joint School has offered degrees in Engineering and Computer Science with five cohorts of students graduating. More than 75% of these graduates continue with postgraduate study – almost 95% of them at QS World top 100 universities and 41% at top 20 institutions.

The Joint School, the University’s first, now runs five undergraduate degree programmes and has recruited more than 2,000 students.

Both universities are exploring new ways to broaden and deepen our partnership in student education, enhancing student experience and employability as well as increasing research collaborations to address global challenges, such as climate change.

To celebrate the milestones achieved by the partnership Professor Hai-Sui Yu, Interim Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Leeds, visited SWJTU to preside at a graduation ceremony for Joint School students and celebrate the decade’s achievements.  

He said: “In 2014 we were honoured to join forces with our strategic partner SWJTU in setting up the Joint School of Engineering and Computer Science.  

“Today it delivers world-class student education combining the research excellence and teaching strengths of our two universities.   

“Both universities are exploring new ways to broaden and deepen our partnership in student education, enhancing student experience and employability as well as increasing research collaborations to address global challenges, such as climate change.”

The graduation ceremony celebrated the achievements of those in the first graduating cohort from June 2020, who were unable celebrate their graduation during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as recent graduates. Professor Yu and Professor Nora de Leeuw, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Leeds, and Joint School of Engineering and Computer Science, presided together over the graduation of the fifth cohort of Joint School students.

Sun Jingwen, a graduating student in Civil Engineering from SWTJU Leeds Joint School, said: “In addition to good professional quality, the teaching of Leeds’ system focuses on cultivating our fluent speech, expression, strong self-learning skills and practice. 

“During my four years of study, our joint school provided us with an excellent practice platform, so I participated in plenty of competitions like Internet+ Innovation Competition, which obtained good rankings and laid the foundation for applying to schools for future study.” 

Jingwen will now go on to study civil engineering in Tongji University in Shanghai, which is ranked second in China and 16th in the world for that subject by QS.

A student receives their degree from Professor Hai-Sui Yu.

At a reception to celebrate the 10th anniversary, the UK’s Consul General in Chongqing and South West China praised the success of the Joint School at local, regional and global levels. 

Anthony Preston said: “Higher education collaboration is one of our top priorities, with focus on two-way mobility, transnational education partnerships and research collaboration.”

He cited the fact that the Joint School had been invited to share its best practice at a number of events, including last month’s UK-Chengdu-Chongqing HE development online forum, jointly supported by the British Council; last September’s UK HE Mission to China, which was co-organised by the British Council, UK Research and Innovation and Universities UK International; and the Going Global Conference organised by the British Council in Glasgow in November last year. 

As a part of the week’s activities, both institutions signed a Supplement Agreement, demonstrating joint commitment to the future of the Joint School and the provision of two new undergraduate programmes.  

This visit highlighted the University of Leeds’ ongoing work with SWTJU, following the recent spotlight on Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) modules, where undergraduates from both universities work together to translate texts during online meetings, discussions and break out groups. 

Also during the trip, Professor Yu and other colleagues from the Leeds delegation participated in a Forum on Chinese-foreign Cooperation in Running Schools (CFCRS) in Chengdu-Chongqing area. The forum helped to showcase the work from the SWJTU-Leeds Joint School across the last 10 years and facilitated further development and collaboration in higher education amongst the organisations represented by attendees.

While in the Far East, Professor Yu and colleagues also hosted a successful event in Hong Kong for alumni, donors and other supporters of the University, sharing news from the University including strategic goals and recent success in global rankings. They enjoyed meeting 80 graduates who studied at Leeds as far back as the 1960s. The Vice-Chancellor also met Brian Davidson, the UK Consul General to Hong Kong, and senior British Council leaders. 

Further information 

• For media enquiries, please contact Rebecca Hurrey in the University of Leeds Press Office via r.hurrey@leeds.ac.uk.