The year of 2023 is the 20^th anniversary for BUA's International College. Recently, two delegations, led by Ken Sloan, President of Harper Adams University (HAU) in the UK, and Marko Remes, Director of the Office of Cooperation Affairs of the International Department of Edith Cowan University in Australia, respectively, have visited BUA, and they engaged in in-depth discussions about ways to deepen cooperative education. Zhao Feng, Secretary of the Party Committee, Duan Liusheng, Deputy Secretary of the BUA Committee of the CPC and President of BUA, and Wu Yan, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of BUA, attended relevant activities.

On the morning of October 13, the delegation of HAU, consisting of President Ken Sloan, Chief Global Impact Officer Ian Rowley, and Cooperative Education Program Director Sandra Turner, visited BUA, and was warmly received by BUA's leaders including Zhao Feng and Duan Liusheng.

Zhao Feng extended a warm welcome to the delegation headed by Ken Sloan. He noted that the two universities had laid a solid foundation for cooperation and achieved fruitful results in cooperative education over the last two decades. After talking about the "Quality-Oriented School Building Program" explicitly proposed at BUA's recent 4^th Party Congress to advance international talent cultivation, he expressed the hope that both sides would further sharpen the advantages and features of Sino-foreign cooperative education, continue to boost the quality of Sino-foreign cooperative education and talent cultivation, and drive the high-quality development of the two universities, so as to enhance their influence and competitiveness in the world.

At the symposium, Duan Liusheng reviewed the practice of cooperative education between BUA and HAU over the last two decades, noting that the initiative had achieved the integration and innovation of Chinese and foreign philosophies about education and teaching and cultivated a great number of talents with a global vision and international competitiveness. He also expressed the hope that the two universities would work together to deepen cooperation and refine the mechanisms for exchanges and international student cultivation, thereby developing the Sino-foreign cooperative education program into a distinctive brand of the two universities.

In his speech, Ken Sloan fully affirmed the gratifying achievements of the bilateral cooperation, hoping that both sides would learn from each other's frontier research experience and teaching methods, further increase exchanges, and strengthen bilateral cooperation in all aspects and areas, so as to inject fresh impetus into the cultivation of excellent international talents. The two sides also held discussions about how to further postgraduate education and teacher exchanges, and reached a preliminary consensus.

On October 14–15, the 20^th Anniversary Celebration & Alumni Reception of BUA's International College, themed "Embracing the Future with Vitality", was held. Present at the event were President Ken Sloan, Chief Global Impact Officer Ian Rowley, Cooperative Education Program Director Sandra Turner, and Chinese Office Representative Haiqi Wang from HAU, BUA's cooperative university in the UK; Marko Remes, Director of the Office of Cooperation Affairs and Ryan Zhang, Manager of Cooperation Business from the International Department of Edith Cowan University, BUA's cooperative university in Australia; and BUA's leaders Duan Liusheng and Wu Yan.

Ken Sloan extended warm congratulations to BUA on the 20^th anniversary of the International College, stressing that the cooperative education program had yielded impressive achievements. He expressed sincere thanks to every teacher and student on both sides for their support and efforts, and looked forward to deeper cooperation with BUA in the days to come. Marko Remes spoke highly of and showed admiration for the outcomes of the cooperative education over the last 12 years, expressing the hope that both sides would keep expanding the room for cooperation in the future to train more excellent international talents.

Wu Yan extended a warm welcome to the guests from cooperative universities and the alumni attending the event. She noted that the International College's Sino-foreign cooperative education programs had seen constant improvements in the quality of talent cultivation, contributing to BUA's move to internationalize education. She also expressed the expectation that the alumni would pay continued attention to their alma mater, contribute ideas to BUA's development, and stay connected to BUA, so as to carry forward BUA's spirit, tell good stories about BUA, and write a new chapter about BUA together.

The history and achievements of the Sino-Macau cooperative education program and the Sino-UK cooperative education program were also introduced at the event. The heads of relevant functional departments presented certificates of appointment to the alumni liaison officers of the International College.

The returning alumni all expressed their gratitude to their alma mater, stressing that the Sino-foreign cooperative education programs helped them broaden their horizon, gain knowledge, and foster abilities, and promised to follow up BUA's development and contribute their due share to BUA. They also engaged in in-depth exchanges with undergraduates, providing valuable experience for them regarding career planning.

Over the past two decades since the establishment of the International College, its Sino-foreign cooperative education programs have achieved constant progress, training more than 1,300 graduates so far. By introducing high-quality educational resources from abroad, they have driven deeper integration between the two sides; by reforming education and teaching in an all-round way, they have geared their operations to international practice; by ensuring high-standard teaching quality, they have established the style of rigorous management; by effectively implementing a student-oriented educational philosophy, they have offered quality services centering on students. With the implementation of the "Quality-Oriented School Building Program" proposed at BUA's 4^th Party Congress, and following the specific deployment for "advancing international talent cultivation" in the "decomposition plan", the International College will continue to improve the quality of Sino-foreign cooperative education and talent cultivation, with the aim of making fresher and bigger contribution to the building of BUA into a high-level application-oriented university with a focus on urban agriculture and forestry.

The event gathered a total of more than 200 participants, including heads of relevant functional departments of BUA, retired leaders of BUA and the International College, faculty members and alumni representatives of the International College, and representatives of undergraduates.