From September 18 to 20, President Wang Yunpeng visited Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, to further advance the development of the international education demonstration zone and university-city integration demonstration zone at Beihang Hangzhou International Campus. During his stay in Hangzhou, Wang Yunpeng and his delegation held exchanges and talks with relevant provincial, municipal, and district officials, attended the 2026 opening ceremony of Hangzhou International Innovation Institute (H3I) of Beihang University, witnessed the memorandum signing between Hangzhou and Valencia, Spain, and provided guidance on the high-quality advancement of key tasks in Beihang's educational endeavors in Hangzhou. Fang Jiancheng, Chairman of the University Academic Committee and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Vice Presidents Zhao Weisheng and Lyu Jinhu participated in relevant activities.

Advancing University-City Integration to Build a Development Demonstration Zone

On September 20, Xu Wenguang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Executive Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province, visited the Beihang Hangzhou International Campus. President Wang Yunpeng met with Xu Wenguang and his delegation, which included He Guoqiang, Deputy Secretary-General of the Zhejiang Provincial Government; Chen Chunlei, Director of the Department of Education, Zhejiang Province; Zhang Yuandong, Deputy Director of the Department of Finance, Zhejiang Province; Dong Yumin, Member of the Standing Committee of the Hangzhou Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Yuhang District Party Committee; and Jin Chengtao, Vice Mayor of Hangzhou.

Xu Wenguang congratulated Beihang University on its fruitful achievements in serving the building of an education powerhouse and a science and technology powerhouse. He hoped that the university would fully leverage its scientific research and talent advantages, closely combine them with Zhejiang's regional economic and social development and industrial structural characteristics, continuously optimize theoperation model of the Beihang Hangzhou International Campus, and promote the local transformation and application of more scientific and technological achievements in Zhejiang. The Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government will improve the normalized exchange and coordination mechanism and provide policy support and operational guarantees for Beihang's campus development in Hangzhou.

Wang Yunpeng expressed gratitude to the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government for their strong support for Beihang's campus development in Hangzhou. He stated that Beihang and Zhejiang Province have a solid foundation and abundant achievements in cooperation. The university has always adhered to the integrated advancement of education, science and technology, and talent, striving to improve the level of international education and actively serving regional economic and social development. Looking ahead, he hoped that the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government would continue to support Beihang's development as always, and the university would continue to optimize the layout of educational resources in Hangzhou to better serve the national strategy and regional economic and social development.

Xu Wenguang and his delegation visited the National Key Laboratory of Spintronic and Technology and the Tianmushan Laboratory, and learned about relevant scientific and technological innovation and achievement transformation at the Beihang Hangzhou International Campus.

On September 18, Hangzhou and Valencia, Spain, signed a memorandum of friendly exchange and cooperation. Carmen Ortí Ferre, Director of the Department of Education, Culture, and Universities of the Valencian Community, Spain; Arturo Castello, Director of the Valencia Innovation Capital; Zhang Yan, Vice Mayor of Hangzhou; Wang Yunpeng, President of Beihang University; and José Capilla, Rector of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Universitat Politècnica de València, UPV), attended the event.

On behalf of the Hangzhou Municipal Government, Zhang Yan extended a warm welcome to the Spanish delegation. She noted that this cooperation, actively promoted by Beihang, was of great significance for promoting the common development of Hangzhou and Valencia. She looked forward to taking this cooperation as an opportunity to further deepen exchanges and cooperation between the two sides and attract more young Spanish students to study, work, and live in Hangzhou.

Wang Yunpeng expressed sincere gratitude to the Hangzhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government for their long-term strong support for Beihang's campus development, extended a warm welcome to the delegation, and introduced the construction and operation of the Beihang Valencia Polytechnic Institute (BVPI) . He pointed out that the university will continue to build a diversified cooperation framework and create a distinctive brand of international education. Relying on this new friendly city platform, he looked forward to contributing more strength to the science and education cooperation between China and Spain.

Arturo Castello expressed gratitude to the Hangzhou Municipal Government, Beihang, and UPV for their efforts in facilitating this cooperation. He pointed out that Valencia and Hangzhou share many similarities and based on the existing cooperation, he hoped to promote practical cooperation and common development between the two cities in more fields, with universities and enterprises as bridges.

Capilla stated that Beihang and UPV have worked closely together to establish the first cooperative educational institution approved by the education authorities of both countries. At present, UPV has built a "university-industry-city" collaborative development ecosystem with enterprises such as Huawei, Unitree Robotics, and Geely. He looked forward to leveraging educational and technological cooperation to bring more positive results to the economic and social development of both sides.

A symposium on the operation of Beihang Hangzhou International Campus was held at H3I. Wang Yunpeng, President of Beihang University, Chen Chunlei, Director of the Department of Education, Zhejiang Province, Jin Chengtao, Vice Mayor of Hangzhou, Yang Jiangen, District Mayor of Yuhang District, and Chen Jian, Director of the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Education, attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Sun Qingfeng, Party Secretary of H3I.

At the meeting, Dong Zhuoning, Assistant President of Beihang University and Dean of H3I, reported on the progress of the institute and its development plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan.

Chen Chunlei emphasized the need to consolidate the ideological foundation, improve the quality of talent cultivation, further expand educational openness, strengthen the capacity to serve local development, and firmly uphold the safety bottom line to promote the high-quality development of the Hangzhou International Campus.

Jin Chengtao stated that H3I should further seize the momentum and strengthen the coordinated layout of scientific and technological resources, enhance talent recruitment and development, and deliver high-quality planning for the university science park, injecting new impetus into Hangzhou's high-quality development.

Yang Jiangen expressed that the Yuhang District will fully support H3I, and hoped that the institute would accelerate the construction of the innovation ecosystem around Beihang, promote the implementation of ten key projects, and advance the deep integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, and talent chain.

On behalf of the university, Wang Yunpeng expressed sincere gratitude to Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou City, and Yuhang District for their long-term strong support for Beihang's educational developmentin Hangzhou. He stated that the Hangzhou International Campus will seize new development opportunities and build a world-class international educational campus. He noted that H3I should place priority on high-growth discipline construction, implement high-level faculty recruitment and cultivation, and carry out high-quality student training.

Attending the Opening Ceremony to Embark on a New Journey of Talent Development

On the morning of September 19, the 2026 opening ceremony of H3I was grandly held in the gymnasium. New undergraduate and graduate students from the Zhongfa Aviation Institute (ZFAI), the Beihang INSA Institute for Applied Sustainable Sciences and Technology (BIFAST), BVPI, the International Education Center, and H3I gathered in Hangzhou. More than 2,000 young students from over 60 countries around the world embarked on a new journey.

Francisco de Asís Benítez Salas, Consul General of Spain in Shanghai; Rachid Malti, Science and Technology Counselor of the Consulate General of France in Shanghai; Carmen OrtíFerre, Director of the Department of Education, Culture, and Universities of the Valencian Community, Spain; Arturo Castello, Director of the Valencia Innovation Capital; Chen Chunlei, Director of the Department of Education, Zhejiang Province; Yang Jiangen, Mayor of Yuhang District, Hangzhou; Hu Huilei, Secretary-General of the Zhejiang Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese; Li Daoqiao, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Hangzhou Municipal People's Government; Olivier Chansou, President of the Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile (ENAC); Frédéric Fotiadu, Director of the French National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) Lyon; José Capilla, Rector of UPV; Nicolas Cazalis, Vice President of ENAC; Damien Fabrègue, Vice President of INSA Lyon; José F Monserrat, José Pedro Garcia, Eugenio Pellicer, and Salvador Coll, Vice Rectors of UPV; Alain Marty, Academician of the French National Academy of Technologies and Professor at INSA Toulouse; Wang Yunpeng, President of Beihang University; Fang Jiancheng, Chairman of the University Academic Committee and Academician of CAS; Vice Presidents Zhao Weisheng and Lyu Jinhu; and Gui Haichao, astronaut of the Shenzhou XVI crew and Professor at the School of Astronautics, attended the opening ceremony. The ceremony was presided over by Dong Zhuoning.

In his speech, Chen Chunlei extended a warm welcome to the 2026 Beihang freshmen from all over the world. He stated that Beihang Hangzhou International Campus in Zhejiang is a model of deep integration between a prestigious university and a major province, and a vivid practice of the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent. This year marks the first admission of students to BVPI, which focuses on cutting-edge fields including artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence, injecting new international momentum into higher education in Zhejiang. He encouraged new students to develop a global vision, hone solid capabilities and forge ahead amid the tides of the times.

Carmen Ortí Ferre stated that the Valencian Community upholds the development philosophy of open exchange, and bold innovation. This opening ceremony demonstrates Valencia's firm pursuit of facing the world, sharing knowledge, cultivating talent, and creating opportunities together. She looked forward to the two sides walking hand in hand to build a solid bridge for Sino-Spanish exchange and communication.

Rachid Malti pointed out that youth people-to-people exchange is an important driving force for promoting bilateral cooperation between China and France. This opening ceremony marks a new starting point for Sino-French cooperation in education, science, and technology. ZFAI and BIFAST focus on talent cultivation in the fields of civil aviation and engineering. Both institutes integrate professional teaching, language learning, and cultural immersion, striving to cultivate students into messengers of exchange for mutual learning between Chinese and French civilizations.

At the ceremony, the High School-Beihang Articulation Enrollment Ceremony was held. Chinese and foreign guests jointly presented awards to freshmen who won the Presidential Scholarship. The ceremony also grandly released a special initiative for university-enterprise collaborative education.

Six freshman representatives from different colleges and countries delivered a freshman declaration in multiple languages, including Chinese, French, Spanish, and English. They pledged to cherish the diverse and open learning platform of the Hangzhou International Campus, delve deep into academic disciplines, hone their skills, serve as young messengers connecting Chinese and foreign civilizations, and pursue their aerospace dreams unswervingly.

Six Chinese and foreign faculty representatives offered messages, encouraging the freshmen to uphold a spirit of inquiry and critical thinking, bravely scale new heights in science, and grow into new-generation young people with professional competence and a global vision.

Olivier Chansou affirmed the steady progress of the internationalization of the Hangzhou International Campus and the continuous expansion of its European cooperation footprint. He pointed out that the engineer training system has been officially adopted for the first cohort of undergraduates of ZFAI, and next year ZFAI will welcome its first undergraduate graduates and first batch of dual-master's graduates. ENAC attaches great importance to its strategic cooperation with Beihang and will continue to deepen joint development to support students' all-round growth.

Frédéric Fotiadu was delighted by the results of the deep strategic cooperation between Beihang and the INSA Group. He stated that the INSA Group has always adhered to the educational philosophy of placing equal emphasis on humanistic literacy and professional competence. BIFAST aims to build an international cooperation bridge based on mutual trust and win-win outcomes, cultivate cross-cultural composite engineering talent, and help solve global challenges.

José Capilla expressed sincere gratitude to the Chinese Ministry of Education, governments at the provincial, municipal, and district levels, Beihang, and the Valencian Community of Spain for their efforts in bringing the Sino-foreign cooperative education project to fruition. He stated that UPV will carry forward the spiritual essence of mutual learning among civilizations of the ancient Silk Road and, relying on the Beihang Hangzhou International Campus, continue to deepen scientific research innovation and educational cooperation.

Wang Yunpeng expressed warm congratulations to all 2026 freshmen and extended sincere welcome and heartfelt thanks to provincial, municipal, and district leaders who have always cared about and supported the construction and development of the campus, as well as friends from France and Spain who traveled from afar. He stated that in recent years, the university has continued to deepen strategic cooperation with Zhejiang Province and jointly established the Hangzhou International Campus. Today, it has become the first campus in China to simultaneously host three Sino-foreign cooperative educational institutions. Following the positioning of "high level, new mechanism, and internationalization," it is accelerating the developmentof an international education demonstration zone and a university-city integration demonstration zone.

As a new journey begins, Wang Yunpeng offered three keywords to the freshmen: first, Vision—to gain insight into the times, embrace the world, and cultivate the capacity to participate in global governance. Second, Innovation—to uphold fundamental principles while breaking new ground, dare to lead, and embrace the opportunities and challenges of the AI era. Third, Commitment—to take root in dedication, integrate knowledge with action, and shoulder the mission of youth in serving the nation.

Afterward, Wang Yunpeng also attended the opening ceremony for the first cohort of 2026 freshmen of BVPI. Together with Chinese and Spanish leaders and guests, he witnessed the first cohort of students of the institute embark on their university life.

Heads of relevant departments, including the Party and Administrative Office, the Student Affairs Department, the Academic Affairs Department, the Institute of Science and Technology, the International Relations Department, and H3I, attended relevant activities.

Editor: Liu Tingting