On June 26, the inauguration ceremony of the CJLU-ARU Joint Institute, China Jiliang University was held. Lan Jingjing, Director of the International Exchange and Cooperation Office of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education; Mark Norrish, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Anglia Ruskin University; Jin Xiaoming, Party secretary of China Jiliang University; Dai Daoxin, Vice Chancellor; and Wang Binrui, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, attended the ceremony. The official inauguration of the Joint Institute marks a new phase of substantive operation for the university’s Sino-foreign cooperative education, and represents another important achievement of Zhejiang Province in expanding the opening-up of higher education and introducing high-quality international educational resources.

At the ceremony, Jin Xiaoming and Mark Norrish jointly unveiled the plaque for the CJLU-ARU Joint Institute, China Jiliang University, opening a new chapter in the institute’s official educational operation.

In her address, Lan Jingjing extended warm congratulations on the official inauguration of the Joint Institute. She noted that the establishment of the institute is a pragmatic outcome of Zhejiang’s efforts to act on the spirit of the World Digital Education Conference and deepen the opening-up of education. With complementary disciplinary strengths and program offerings precisely aligned with the needs of Zhejiang’s industrial upgrading, she expressed the hope that the institute would leverage the strengths of both sides to carry out in-depth integration and innovation in teaching models, curriculum systems, faculty teams and quality assurance. It is expected to cultivate a cohort of high-caliber application-oriented talents with a global vision, cross-cultural communication competence and solid engineering practical ability, build itself into a demonstration platform for China-UK educational cooperation, and contribute new experience to the opening-up of Zhejiang’s higher education sector.

In his speech, Dai Daoxin stated that Sino-foreign cooperative education serves as an important carrier of education opening-up in the new era, as well as a key pathway for universities to elevate educational standards and foster international talents. Taking the inauguration as a new starting point, the university will uphold the principles of quality-based development, feature-driven growth and open integration. It will benchmark against the quality standards for Sino-foreign cooperative education, stay rooted in CJLU’s metrology-focused educational heritage, deepen all-round cooperation between the two universities in areas including faculty, research and cultural exchanges, build a high-level educational brand with distinctive CJLU characteristics, and nurture high-caliber talents with global competitiveness.

On behalf of Anglia Ruskin University, Mark Norrish congratulated the Joint Institute on its inauguration. He pointed out that the Joint Institute offers cutting-edge programs including Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering and Artificial Intelligence. Leveraging the "Silicon Fen" tech innovation ecosystem in the Cambridge region and CJLU’s strengths in industrial resources, the institute aims to build an international educational platform integrating talent cultivation, academic exchanges and industry collaboration. He expressed the expectation that both sides would take this opportunity as a new starting point to deepen mutual faculty appointment, student exchange and joint research, cultivate high-caliber talents with a strong sense of national responsibility and a global vision, and contribute to the development of both universities and regional industrial upgrading.

During the ceremony, Wang Binrui and Mark Norrish exchanged souvenirs on behalf of the two universities to commemorate their cooperative friendship. A faculty appointment ceremony for the institute was also held, and the institute’s promotional video CJLU & ARU, Original Aspiration to Bright Future was officially released.

Prior to the ceremony, a seminar on the high-quality development of Sino-foreign cooperative educational institutions was convened, with heads of international affairs offices and Sino-foreign cooperative institutions from fellow universities in Zhejiang Province in attendance to share insights and explore collaborative paths.

The CJLU-ARU Joint Institute, China Jiliang University was officially approved by the Ministry of Education in December 2025. Precisely aligned with the national intelligent manufacturing strategy and the development needs of Zhejiang’s "415X" advanced manufacturing clusters, it offers three undergraduate programs — Artificial Intelligence, Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering — alongside a foreign master’s degree program in Artificial Intelligence.

Guided by the goal to advance the cultivation of interdisciplinary talents through the integration of mechanical engineering, control science and artificial intelligence, the institute adopts a "4+0" delivery model for undergraduate programs and follows the "1.5+0" delivery model for postgraduate studies, under which students can access high-quality educational resources from both CJLU and ARU without mandatory overseas residency. The institute is scheduled to launch its enrollment in 2026, with an annual planned intake of 100 students for each undergraduate program and 40 students for the foreign master’s degree program, reaching a total student capacity of 1,280.

Faculty Appointment Ceremony

Unveiling Ceremony of CJLU-ARU Joint Institute Successfully Held