On June 18-20, 2023, invited by Li Jin, President of Fudan University, and the Institute for Global Public Policy of Fudan University, a delegation led by Professor Amr Ezzat Salama, Secretary General of the Association of Arab Universities (AArU), conducted a 3-day visit to Fudan University. This visit was another in-depth exchange activity conducted by both parties following the signing of a cooperation memorandum between Fudan University and the AArU in February of this year, the online launching ceremony of the cooperation held by President Jin and Secretary General Salama in March, and the visit of Fudan delegation led by Vice President of Fudan University Zhimin Chen to the AArU in May.

On the morning of June 19th, President Jin met Secretary General Salama and his delegation at the Zibin Building. President Jin pointed out that Fudan University would actively promote innovative and in-depth cooperation in various disciplinary areas with Arab universities under the framework of the cooperation memorandum signed with the AArU and the 10+10 framework for higher education between China and the Arab states. To promote comprehensive and substantive cooperation, Fudan University would push forward the establishment of the “Fudan-Arab Research Center for Global Development and Governance” in collaboration with the AArU, and would host the inaugural “China-Arab University Forum on Global Development and Governance” in the second half of this year. President Jin invited Secretary General Salama to attend the Shanghai Forum, which will also be held at Fudan University in the second half of this year.

Secretary General Salama expressed his gratitude to President Jin and Fudan University for their warm reception of the delegation and for organizing such rich and meaningful visit activities. He pointed out that the cooperation between the AArU and Fudan University is a model for China-Arab university cooperation, and he has high expectations on it. He thought it a great opportunity to promote cooperation among top universities in China and the Arab world in various fields such as science, engineering, and medicine, so that the people of both sides can share the fruits of civilization development. He pointed out that the AArU would work with Fudan University to organize the “China-Arab University Forum on Global Development and Governance”, and happily accepted the invitation to deliver a keynote speech at the Shanghai Forum. Vice President Zhimin Chen attended and chaired the meeting, and representatives from relevant schools and departments also participated.

On the afternoon of June 19th, Secretary General Salama was invited by the Institute for Global Public Policy and the LSE-Fudan Research Centre for Global Public Policy to deliver a lecture titled “The Future of Higher Education in the Arab World and the Impact of Higher Education on Global Human Development” at the Siyuan Hall in Guanghua Building. This was the 46th lecture of the Fudan-LSE Lecture Series. In the speech, Secretary General Salama analyzed the development of higher education in the Arab region and highlighted the main changes, tasks, and challenges that it currently faces. He also introduced the measures taken by the AArU to promote the development and cooperation of higher education in the Arab region. He pointed out that Arab universities particularly hoped to improve their scientific research and human resources development levels through cooperation with Chinese universities, and enhance the supportive and innovative role of universities in promoting social transformation and development. The lecture was hosted by Professor Yijia Jing, Dean of the Institute for Global Public Policy and Director of the LSE-Fudan Centre. Professor Degang Sun, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and Mr. Anson Chan, Board Director of the Fudan University Education Development Foundation (Overseas), gave comments respectively. The lecture was translated by Associate Professor Jing Liao from the School of Foreign Languages and Literature.

After the lecture, the Secretary General and his delegation visited the Institute for Global Public Policy and the LSE-Fudan Centre. Professor Yijia Jing briefly introduced the development of the institute, particularly the experiences of running the LSE-Fudan Centre jointly with the London School of Economics and Political Science. He said that the first visiting scholar that the LSE-Fudan Centre received since the Covid Pandemic was Prof. Nath Aldalala’a. Prof. Nath Aldalala’a is an Arab scholar who helped establish the contact between Fudan and the AArU and who worked hard to offer innovative support to this collaboration. The AArU guests and Fudan hosts had active discussions on future exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Arab students and scholars, research collaboration, centre construction, forum preparation, and the expansion of teaching and research of the Institute in the Arab region. In the evening, Professor Walid Salameh, Senior Consultant to the Secretary General of the AArU, and Professor Yijia Jing held a working meeting and reached consensus on the details of the next steps of various cooperation initiatives.

During their visit to Fudan, the Secretary General and his delegation also visited several schools, departments and research units on different campuses of Fudan and had in-depth discussions on Fudan’s development plans in areas such as big science, new engineering, interdisciplinary research, advanced research infrastructure, frontier discipline development, and current and future cooperation with the Arab world. They met with Dr. He Wang, Executive Director of the International Brain Imaging Center at Fudan Zhangjiang Campus, Dean Jianbo Luo of the School of International Cultural Exchange and Chairman Peize Li of HanKao International, Dr. Xiaoxin Du of the Fudan Development Institute, Dean Nan Chi and Secretary Yang Xu of the School of Information Science and Engineering, Vice Director Liwu Zhang and Researcher Yutao Wang of the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, and Vice Dean Li Chen of the Law School. During their visit, the delegation also made a courtesy visit to the Shanghai International Studies University.

Members of the delegation from the AArU also included Prof. Abdelrahim Hunaiti, Assistant Secretary General of the Association, Prof. Walid Salameh, Senior Consultant, and Ms. Lina Bitar, Director of General Administration.

The visit achieved great success.