Jia Suotang, chancellor of Shanxi University (SXU), paid a visit to the University College of Southeast Norway (USN) and University of Cologne (UoC) to seek academic collaboration and scientific exchanges.

Petter Aasen, president of USN, warmly welcomed Jia and conveyed his hope to jointly establish laboratories to share resources and research. In addition, officials from both sides reached an agreement to biennially hold bilateral conferences and drafted a plan to found a Confucius Institute.

In October 2016, Yngvar Berg, dean of the Micro-Nano System Institute of USN, visited SXU, signing a cooperative framework agreement in the following month. Over the past year, dialogues have been conducted between the two institutions to further academic progress.

Jia was impressed by the advanced facilities after visiting the library, teaching rooms and labs at USN.

Chancellor Jia visited UoC after leaving Norway. UoC conducts world-leading research in physics, biology and medical sciences, and its economics and management science are top ranking in Germany. During the two-day visit, Jia attended five symposiums for mathematics, chemistry and physical science.

Jia expressed appreciation for the teaching methods at the UoC Mathematics Institute, combining education with psychology, and the model cases from the UoC Chemistry Center, developing study with industry-related companies.

Petter Aasen (left), president of University College of Southeast Norway, exchanges gifts with Jia Suotang, chancellor of Shanxi University in Norway. [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]

Officials from Shanxi University and University of Cologne pose for a photograph in Germany. [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]