US delegation visits Nantong Vocational University for further collaboration

A delegation led by Professor Stephen Drown, honorary dean of the College of Art and Architecture at the University of Idaho and fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), visited Nantong Vocational University on May 21.

A delegation from the United States poses for a group photo with representatives of Nantong Vocational University. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Fang Jihong, president of NTVU, welcomed them and introduced the school's distinctive features and international exchange activities.

Professor Drown stressed the value of one-on-one mentoring, industry-academia integration, and practice-based teaching, while citing traditional culture as key to regional design identity and cultural recognition.

The two sides reached a preliminary consensus on international cooperative education and will further collaborate in areas such as credit recognition, postgraduate studies, faculty exchange, and joint curriculum development to build a more diverse platform for student and faculty development.

Subsequently, the delegation visited NTVU's intangible cultural heritage teaching workshops, where they learned about a variety of traditional crafts and tried their hands at tie-dyeing.