On the afternoon of May 8, Frédéric Fotiadu, President of Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA Lyon), and Damien Fabrègue, Vice President of INSA Lyon, visited Beihang University. Beihang President Wang Yunpeng, Vice Presidents Huang Haijun and Lyu Weifeng, Assistant President and Executive Vice President of Graduate School Zhao Weisheng, and other officials and representatives from related departments, met the guests at Ruxin Lecture Hall.
Wang Yunpeng expressed his welcome to the guests. He noted that Beihang has a history of cooperation with INSA Group for nearly 20 years. INSA Lyon, as one of the oldest and largest institutes in INSA Group, is a top engineer-training school in France, and there are broad prospects for cooperation between the two sides. He also mentioned that the recent agreement between the leaders of China and France on education cooperation provides new opportunities for Sino-French cooperation in education. In this context, Beihang is willing to expand university-level cooperation with INSA Lyon in all respects, jointly promote educational and cultural exchanges, and provide wisdom and solutions for the reform of engineer training worldwide.
Frédéric Fotiadu briefly introduced the history of INSA Lyon and its academic achievements. He said that the two universities have many similarities in terms of educational philosophy, academic strengths, and development plans, and expressed his admiration for Beihang’s achievements in international cooperation. He also expressed INSA Lyon's willingness to explore new engineer-training models with Beihang University and contribute to innovative engineering education.
During the visit, the two sides held a seminar to discuss a series of topics including expanding high-level international scientific and educational cooperation projects, conducting student exchange and joint training of dual degrees, and promoting academic exchange and cooperation among teachers, reaching a high level of consensus.
On the evening of May 8, a friendly ping-pong match was played as part of a sporting and cultural exchange event. The event was also attended by Guo Yan, a teacher of Beihang University and a ping-pong World Cup champion, and Wu Yang, a professional ping-pong player and world champion. Both sides exchanged their skills, and the atmosphere was warm and joyful.
During their stay, the delegation of INSA Lyon also visited the Center for Micro-Nano Innovation, the National Key Laboratory of Virtual Reality Technology and Systems, and the Sino-French Engineer School at Beihang University.
The Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) is a leading French group of engineering institutes with several campuses. It belongs to the French elite education university system and is a higher education institution specialized in training elite engineers in France. The INSA group includes 7 INSAs in France, located in Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Rouen, Rennes, Loire Valley, and Hauts-de-France. INSA Lyon, founded in 1957, is the oldest and largest engineering school in the INSA group. It currently has more than 6,200 students and over 1,400 faculty members, and a total of 42,000 graduates.
Reported by Fan Hang
Photographed by Di Bailu, Liang Siran, Du Jingjing, and Mi Xingyu
Reviewed by Weng Jingnong
Edited by Jia Aiping
Translated by Wen Li
