TU Graz strengthens connection with Tongji University

Some 50 guests had arrived at the Chinese-German house for the opening of the TU Graz liaison office at the campus of the elite university. The main item in the programme was the official handover of the keys by the President of the Senate of Tongji University, Yang Xianjin, to Rector Harald Kainz – an important symbol of cooperation between the two universities. Both Rector Kainz and Senate President Yang emphasised in their speeches the successful cooperation of many years between the two universities – a cooperation which will now be intensified through the opening of a liaison office. Harald Kainz: “By establishing this office which is run by Clara Fischer, we now have a constant presence at Tongji and are in a position to further expand cooperation with our strategic partner. Besides promoting exchange among students and staff we would like to start new cooperation projects and strengthen technical collaboration for the good of both universities.” The intensified partnership between the two universities bore fruit even while the TU Graz delegation were staying. Five architecture students of TU Graz together with the head of the Institute of Construction and Design Principles, Petra Petersson, will participate at the Construction Festival of Tongji University at the end of May.

Austrian-Chinese friendship

Clara Fischer, who heads the TU Graz liaison office in Shanghai and who has been living in Shanghai for three years, began her words of welcome in Chinese, taking the hearts of those present by storm. Among the guests, who were pampered with Austrian chocolate specialities after a tour of the office, were the Vice-President of Tongji University, Siegfried Wu, the Austrian Consul in Shanghai – Silvia Neureiter, AVL-CEO Robert Fischer – an important sponsor and industrial partner of this cooperation project, and Alexandra Wagner from the OeAD cooperation office in Shanghai. Christian Bode, the representative of the German Academic Exchange Service for Chinese-German universities and former DAAD general secretary was also present. Also attending were a number of professors at Tongji University from the fields of architecture, automotive engineering, engineering and railway engineering as well as students from China and Austria, who also reported about their valuable experiences in Shanghai and Graz. The Austrian Consul, Silvia Neureiter, welcomed the strengthening of the scholarly exchange between Austria and China in her speech, and expressed the hope that cooperation in the fields of culture and business would be increasingly encouraged.