On July 2, 2026, Zhao Jie, Chief of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), visited Nanjing University. Lu Xiancai, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC NJUCommittee and Vice President of NJU, received the guest at the Gulou Campus. The two sides engaged in focused discussions on topics such as joint talent cultivation, international scientific research cooperation, and the implementation of global sustainable development projects, exploring new paths for Nanjing University's faculty and students to deeply participate in global governance.
At the symposium and exchange meeting, Lu Xiancai provided a comprehensive introduction to NJU's academic layout, disciplinary advantages, and current progress in internationalization. He highlighted the university's overall educational development, achievements in comprehensive growth over recent years, and took special note of the integration of the Suzhou Campus with local industries, as well as the interconnected layout of academia, research, and industrial parks. He mentioned that NJU has established a robust interdisciplinary system centered on artificial intelligence, focusing on key global and systemic issues such as dual carbon (carbon peaking and neutrality), and has launched multiple new academic programs. He also introduced the university's systems for talent cultivation, emphasizing strengthened efforts to attract overseas young scholars and postdoctoral researchers, and leveraging returnee scholars to create international scientific research collaboration platforms while simultaneously promoting technological services in its advantageous fields globally.
Zhao Jie systematically introduced the core functions of UNIDO, the foundations for cooperation with China, the resource distribution in the Asia-Pacific region, and potential paths for collaboration between the organization and the university. As a specialized agency of the United Nations, UNIDO focuses on inclusive and sustainable industrial development, with core areas of expertise in eliminating hunger, addressing climate change, and building sustainable value chains, while coordinating and advancing key international projects such as sustainable urban development. UNIDO operates regional offices in the Asia-Pacific and subregional representative offices, with projects spanning numerous countries in Asia-Pacific and Africa, offering outstanding internship opportunities for students and faculty of NJU. He expressed hope that both parties could work together to establish a three-dimensional cooperation system involving industries, experts, and students to comprehensively expand the scope of collaboration.
Through in-depth consultations, the two parties reached multiple agreements regarding the implementation of cooperation. Leaders of relevant administrative offices and key faculty members attended the exchange meeting.
