On the afternoon of April 10, Vice President Kong Jie met with Professor Metin Sitti, Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, Member of the Academia Europaea, and President of Koç University of Türkiye, at the International Conference Center.
On behalf of Northwestern Polytechnical University（NPU）, Kong Jie extended a warm welcome to President Metin Sitti for his visit and exchange, and introduced the NPU’s educational characteristics, research strengths and achievements in international development. He noted that NPU has established stable cooperative relations with nearly 300 universities and institutions worldwide. In 2023, with the witness of the heads of state of China and Kazakhstan, NPU established a branch campus in Kazakhstan, which has become a flagship project of Chinese higher education in Central Asia. The Engineering School jointly established with Queen Mary University of London has seen more than 80% of its graduates pursue further studies for five consecutive cohorts. The Mo Hang school, built in collaboration with the Moscow Aviation Institute , welcomed its first batch of 204 high-rank newly admitted students last year. Meanwhile, NPU has implemented the “Soaring Across Globe” Program, committed to nurturing innovative talents with a global vision. Kong stated that Koç University is a top research university in Türkiye, and President Metin Sitti is a world-leading scientist in intelligent materials, microrobotics, medical devices and other fields. He expressed hope that this visit would serve as an opportunity to deepen practical cooperation between the two universities.
Metin Sitti expressed his gratitude for the warm reception at NPU and introduced Koç University’s educational positioning, disciplinary strengths and development goals. He noted that Koç University is a top private research university in Türkiye, ranking first in the country in terms of research quality and student recruitment standards, with the ambition to enter the world’s top 100 universities within five years. He highly commended NPU’s leading position in aeronautics, astronautics, and marine engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science and other fields, believing that the two universities share a high degree of alignment in disciplinary layout, research directions and development vision. He expressed hope that this exchange would serve as a starting point to promote student exchange and joint training, expand multilateral cooperation, and carry out collaborative research and achievement transformation, so as to jointly enhance the global competitiveness of both universities.
During the meeting, Wang Yan’en, Associate Dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering, and Zheng Zebang,Assistant Dean of the School of Materials Science and Engineering, held in-depth exchanges with Metin Sitti on their respective schools’ disciplinary advantages, research platforms and research directions.Zhao Haitao, Assistant Dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering; Professor Hu Xinghao and Professor Guo Zhiguang from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, as well as representatives from the Office of International Cooperation also attended the meeting.
（Text ：Chen Bijie, Yang Hongli ；Photos :Lu Di；Reviewers：Xiang Dan；Translators：Li Yiwen，Mei Leyun）
