From Dec. 4 to 9, Professor Yan Guodong, Dean of the College of Foreign Languages, led other leaders and department heads of the College to visit universities in France and Switzerland. During the visit, the delegation met and signed exchange agreements with representatives of the University of Paris-Est, the Catholic University of the West (Université Catholique de l’Ouest), and the University of Geneva. Meanwhile, the delegation visited the headquarters of the United Nations in Switzerland to discuss issues on developing students’ competency for working in international organizations. They also visited alumni of CFL in France and Switzerland to promote the introduction of talents.
On Dec. 4, the delegation visited the University of Paris-Est to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of cooperative relations between CFL and the College of Liberal Arts of the university. The delegation held discussions with the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts on future cooperation and renewed the exchange agreement.
During the meeting, Professor Yan said that CFL attaches great importance to the partnership with the College of Liberal Arts, the University of Paris-Est. The past twenty years since the two sides interacted with each other have witnessed close cooperation and fruitful results. He expected that the cooperative relationship could be sustained and deepened. Dean of the College of Liberal Arts expressed approval and praised students sent by CFL for their excellentlinguistic competence and adaptability. It can be found that CFL has proved to be successful in cultivating students, so the College looks forward to more in-depth exchanges in the future.
On Dec. 6, the delegation visited the Catholic University of the West. The two sides signed a framework agreement on cooperation and a student exchange agreement. Through the field visit to the university, the delegation hoped to promote multi-level exchanges and cooperation with the university.
Participants of the meeting from the Catholic University of the West include the Dean of the College of Humanities, the Director of the International Exchange Office, and the Director of the International French Education Center. During the meeting, Professor Yan introduced the history and development of CFL and general information about the Center for Area Studies of CFL. He expressed his hope to deepen exchanges and cooperation with the university in faculty communication, student exchanges, joint scientific research, and other aspects after signing the agreement. The Catholic University of the West also showed a positive attitude towards cooperating with CFL and expected the agreement to be implemented as soon as possible.
On Dec. 7, the delegation was invited to visit the University of Geneva. It met with the Dean of the Department of Language Studies, the Director of the Department of French as a Second Language, and the Head of the Department of Distance and Continuing Education. Apart from a detailed discussion on further cooperation, the delegation made an in-depth study of the university’s language teaching and testing mechanism.
On Dec. 8, at the invitation of alumnus Zhao Xinming, senior reviser of the Department of Language Services of the United Nations, and the founder of Liangyu Scholarship, the delegation visited the United Nations headquarters in Europe. The delegation met with officials to discuss issues includingdeveloping students’ competency for working in international organizations and setting up lectures related to translation and interpretation at the United Nations.
During the visit, the delegation visited alumni of CFL in France, expressing its concern on behalf of the college. The delegation hoped that alumni in France and Switzerland would embody the spirit of patriotism, uphold CFL’s fine tradition of diligence, introduce talents to the College, and contribute to cultural and educational exchanges between China and France through their own work.
Professor Ma Hongqi, Vice Dean of the College and Director of the Department ofForeign Languages for Non-Majors, and Associate Professor Liu Jiping, Director of the French Department, accompanied the visit.
