After the success of the first Swiss Day of Tongji in May 2012, swissnex China decided to start a “Swiss Day in Chinese Universities” tour, aiming to promote the excellence of Swiss higher education, technology and innovation to China’s young future leaders. Again in 2014, Tongji has been chosen as the first stop of this new tour because the cooperation it has established with Swiss universities, such as ETH, EPFL, Bern University of Arts and many others, has stepped into a higher level during the past two years.
On 23 May, starting with a selection of video showcase the state-of-the-art technology development in Switzerland as well as the latest promotional video from various Swiss universities, the lecture Room 704 in Tongji’s Siping Lu Campus was immediately filled up with attention and curiosity from Tongji students.
"What can Switzerland offer besides its beautiful nature and delicious chocolate?"
We had a full program and experts from different aspects answering this question: Pascal Marmier, CEO of swissnex China, gave an introduction of Swiss Science Diplomacy and Swiss Higher Education; Prof. Dr. Zhou Aiguo, presented success stories of Sino-Swiss cooperation in the academic field; Prof. Xin Yin from Y-Institute, established between Bern University of Arts and Tongji with a focus of interdisciplinary projects, showed a special art project combining music and visual performance; Prof. Max von Zedtwitz, Director of GLORAD Research Center for Global R&D and Innovation, elaborated his study on the roles of Switzerland and China within the global context.
Besides these inspiring presentations, the attendance of our Swiss universities’ alumni can be considered as another highlight of the event, they represented universities such as EPFL, HEC Lausanne, University of Geneva, University of Zurich, Zurich University of Applied Sciences and so on. They offered face-to-face Q&A discussions for Tongji students, sharing their study and life experience in Switzerland. Additionally, we invited Mr. Fan Ye, alumnus from Bern University of Arts and known as a very gifted classical guitarist who played with elegance and sensitivity, taking us travel in the lovely music.
At the end, the event was concluded with a funny quiz session and a lucky draw, followed by a rich finger food buffet with Swiss specialties. All the guests enjoyed a stimulated networking part with the possibility to meet all the alumni and speakers. We hope the “Swiss Day of Tongji” will become a tradition and bring opportunities for all the participants.
Related information:
Don’t miss the next Swiss Day at Fudan on June 16th!