Successful partnership celebrated, new one launched in China

The University of Michigan celebrated the success of its biggest partnership in China as it began a new collaboration in the country—a top destination for researchers and students.

The 10th anniversary of the U-M-Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) Joint Institute was marked with festivities in China on April 10, 2016. The award-winning partnership has become a model for joint ventures in education in the Asian nation with the world’s second-biggest economy.

Each year, more than 1,000 Chinese undergraduates study mechanical or electrical and computer engineering at the institute in Shanghai. For U-M students, the institute has become a popular place for education-abroad opportunities.

“U-M is proud to be part of this long-running, fruitful and growing partnership with SJTU,” said James Holloway, vice provost for global and engaged education at U-M. “Together, we have created unique educational platforms and undertaken important joint research projects whose results will benefit all. We have good friendships with many colleagues here in Shanghai, and are proud to celebrate this anniversary with them.”

Two days after the celebration in Shanghai, U-M signed an agreement in Beijing to establish the Tsinghua-Michigan Society of Fellows. This partnership promotes scholarship and academic exchanges in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.

Each year, the program at Tsinghua University, one of China’s leading institutions of higher education, will offer three three-year fellowships for recent Ph.D.s in the humanities or humanistic social sciences.

In Nov. 2015, investor and alumnus John Wu and his wife, Jane Sun, donated $10 million to the University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute to establish the John Wu and Jane Sun Endowment Fund, which will support professorships, faculty awards, scholarships, student entrepreneurship funds and other programs.