On May 27th, the inauguration ceremony of the SUIBE School of Global Governance and the Global Competence Center was held in the Changning Campus, alongside a seminar on WTO reform and innovation. Zhang Xiangchen, Vice Director - General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) delivered a speech via video at the inauguration ceremony. More than 200 people attended the inauguration ceremony and seminar, including Yi Xiaozhun, former deputy director-general of WTO; Hong Xiaodong, former Director-General of the WTO in Ministry of Commerce; Xia Juan, Deputy Director of the Center for International Cultural Exchange of the Ministry of Education; Li Hui, Vice - President of the Standing Committee of the School of International Organizations at Beijing Foreign Studies University; Qi Ming, Party secretary of SUIBE, Zhang Yiguo, Vice - President of the University Council and Secretary of Committee for Discipline Inspection; Vice President Xu Yonglin and Jiang Xiuzhen as well as Huang Jianzhong, Director of the Asia-Pacific Training Center of the WTO and Host of the WTO Chairperson, representatives from various departments and faculties as well as deans and faculty members from all secondary schools and colleges of SUIBE. The opening ceremony was presided over by Zhang Yiguo.
Qi Ming, on behalf of SUIBE, delivered a speech. He stated that the School of Global Governance was established by integrating the former School of Trade Negotiation with the Department of International Relations from the School of Law, , which is the first of its kind in Shanghai and a physical international organization college to cultivate undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students. At the same time, the university also established a Global Competence Center, engaging in teaching, research, and practical exercises aimed at fostering students' global competencies. “the school and the Center” not only embody the historical achievementsmade bySUIBE in serving China's opening-up, but also assume new responsibilities of the times. In the future, the School of Global Governance will strive to build itself into a hub for cultivating international organization talents, a research institution on global economic governance and an outstanding think tank, and acommunication platform for international trade and economic negotiation.
Yi Xiaozhun and Qi Ming jointly inauguratedthe School of Global Governance. Xia Juan and Qi Ming jointly inaugurated the Global Competence Center.
Zhang Xiangchen made his remarks via video. He congratulated the founding of the School of Global Governance, reviewedSUIBE’s collaboration with the WTO, and hailed the university’sefforts to host the WTO Asia-Pacific Regional Training Program on Trade Policy and its contribution to WTO technical assistance. He encouraged the School tofocus on interdisciplinary studies and cultivate compound talents, attach great importance to second-language learning and cultivate bilingual talents, andupgrade cultivation modelsand place greater emphasis on ability-oriented education.
In his remarks, Yi Xiaozhun expressed hope that the newly established School of Global Governance would precisely align with the employment standards of international organizations, fully leverage SUIBE’s traditional strengths in the studies of the WTO and international economic governance, and comprehensively enhance students’ global competence, thus cultivating students with both global perspectives and patriotism, as well as language proficiency and professional capabilities.
That afternoon, a seminar on WTO reform and innovation was held. Huang Jianzhong presided over a “WTO reform and new trends in global trade governance” segment, while Ying Pinguang, the President of the School of Global Governance, hosted a discussion on “innovations and practice exploration in international organization talent training models.” The closing remarks were delivered by Liu Suzhen, the Party head of the School of Global Governance.
Translated by Qianru Li