On April 20, a U.S. Embassy delegation, including Bettina Malone, Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and Melissa Lan, U.S. Consul General in Wuhan, visited Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Chen Jianguo, Vice President of HUST, met with the delegation. Dai Ping, Director of the Division of American and Oceanian Affairs at the Foreign Affairs Office of Hubei Provincial Government and HUST representatives from the Office of International Affairs were also present at the meeting.

In his welcoming remarks, Vice President Chen highlighted a series of exchange and cooperation with U.S. universities, including short-term study programs and study abroad programs with U.S. leading universities such as Stanford University, etc. He also acknowledged breakthroughs in academic and research cooperation with the University of Texas at Austin and others. Chen said that HUST would continue to join hands with U.S. universities to cultivate talent and carry out scientific research to tackle global challenges such as climate change, carbon neutrality and public health issues.

Bettina Malone expressed her gratitude for HUST’s warm reception. She stressed that education exchange is of great significance in improving people-to-people ties and urged higher institutes from both countries to boost friendly exchange and jointly face global challenges. She also expressed her hope for more robust exchange and bilateral cooperation between universities of the two countries.

The participants exchanged views on approaches and measures for cooperation. Following the meeting, the delegation was given a tour of the University Museum.

Written by: Qin Wei

Edited by: Ye Jingyi, Chang Wen, Peng Yumeng