By Mianmian Fei, Junior Project Manager - Academic Relations
2020 marked the seventieth year of diplomatic relations between China and Switzerland. Over the past seven decades, there were numerous noteworthy cooperation between the two countries. In this webinar on January 14, 2021, we spotlighted the first Sino-Swiss engineering textbook titled Fundamentals of Machine Manufacturing Technology. The two authors, the university staff behind the book and a representative from Swiss manufacturing industry got together to present to our audience the whole picture of how this bilateral cooperation has come about with the hope to inspire Chinese and Swiss researchers for similar initiatives.
I (top left) hosted the webinar with Prof. Dr. Wangyu Liu (top middle), Prof. Dr. Claudio R. Boër (top right), Mr. Bodong Stone Shi (bottom left), and Mr. Marco Boccadoro (bottom right).
One of the authors of the book, Prof. Dr. Wangyu Liu of the South China University of Technology (SCUT), kicked off the webinar with the reform history of the course of the same name, which she has been teaching for over 20 years, as a result of changes in the field and society. From a 360-hour Soviet model curriculum, “Fundamentals of Machine Manufacturing Technology” combines the content of six courses and shrinks the total teaching hour to 60. This new English-language textbook is based on three previous editions in Chinese and born out of a number of international resources and cooperation, and Prof. Dr. Claudio Boër provided crucial assistance in this process by co-teaching the course with Prof. Dr. Liu starting from 2016. Besides some structure refinements and new content inputs, one highlight of the textbook is the development trend section after each chapter, which makes up for the lack of knowledge update in the previous editions.
Structure of the book Fundamentals of Machine Manufacturing Technology.
Prof. Dr. Liu’s presentation was followed by that of the other author of the textbook, Prof. Dr. Claudio R. Boër of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI). Prof. Dr. Boër first highlighted his personal involvement with Chinese academia and industry since the early 1990s. He then emphasized why cooperating with China in manufacturing engineering is important, as the country currently has the largest share of world’s manufacturing output. He concluded his presentation by saying that the process of structuring the textbook was a good compromise between the wishes for innovation and the reality to maintain consistency of the academic curriculum. He hopes soon to work on the next edition of the textbook with Prof. Dr. Liu to better integrate current engineering advances and transfer the knowledge to the future generation of engineers.
Next, Mr. Bodong Stone Shi gave his perspective on this cooperation as an alumnus of both universities. Stone got his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and Automation from SCUT and Master’s in Industrial Technology from SUPSI. After he graduated he has been working as the Chief Representative at the China Representative Office of SUPSI. Stone illustrated the potential benefits such an English-language textbook would bring with his experience pursuing higher education in Switzerland. Since the previous textbooks he used at SCUT were in Chinese, he initially found it difficult to transfer the knowledge he gained in China to his studies at SUPSI as he lacked the understanding of engineering jargons in English. He believes the textbook can help academia in both countries find the common “language” and foster more cooperation in the field.
Fundamentals of Machine Manufacturing Technology co-authored by Prof. Dr. Wangyu Liu and Prof. Dr. Claudio R. Boër, is an English-language textbook published by the SCUT Press in Auguest 2020
Lastly, Mr. Marco Boccadoro, an industry consultant working for Swiss company Georg Fischer Machining Solutions, briefly introduced to the audience the state-of-art of Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM), a major electro-machining process, and its meaning in the context of the future industrial challenges. As mentioned by Prof. Dr. Liu and Prof. Dr. Boër, it is important to keep the knowledge updated in engineering education, and in the new edition of the textbook we are likely to see the contribution from Marco representing cutting-edge practices from Swiss manufacturing industry.
Indeed, a textbook is an incredible opportunity to bridge Switzerland and China not only in the field of manufacturing engineering but also in general cultural understanding. We want to express our great appreciation for Prof. Dr. Wangyu Liu, Prof. Dr. Claudio R. Boër, Mr. Bodong Stone Shi and Mr. Marco Boccadoro for their sharing of experience from such a meaningful cooperation. We are looking forward to more Sino-Swiss cooperation in both academia and industry in the near future.
Please find a link to the slides and webinar recording below:
