On the afternoon of November 25, the 2021 meeting of Joint Management Committee (JMC) of the Institute of Creativity and Innovation (ICI) was held in conference room 4, Science and Art Center, Siming Campus. Professor Zhang Rong, President of Xiamen University (XMU), and Professor Bashir Makhoul, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University for the Creative Arts (UCA), attended the meeting with the other members from both sides,including Professor Yang Bin, Vice President of XMU, Professor Catherine Harper, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UCA and Professor Simon Macklin, Pro Vice-Chancellor of UCA, Professor Lu Maozu, Senior Consultant of the JMC, Li Feng, Director of the Student Affairs Office of XMU, Professor Ji Guojun, Director of Academic Affairs Office of XMU, Li Yongqiang, Director of the Management Committee of XMU Zhangzhou Campus, Yu Hongbo, Executive Director of Office of Overseas Campus Affairs and Deputy Director of Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of XMU, Dr. Yu Peipei, Project Director of UCA, Professor Qin Jian, Dean of ICI, Professor Philip Lambert, Associate Dean of ICI. The meeting was presided by President Zhang Rong.
The meeting re-elected of the members of the JMC and Academic Management Committee of the ICI, and approved the leadership members of ICI from both sides. The meeting also reviewed and approved the 2021 annual report and 2022 annual work plan of ICI.
The members of the JMC agreed unanimously that in the past year, ICI took the initiative to cope with the impact of the global COVID-19, took innovative measures and made active exploration in talent training, faculty team building, improving of school conditions and communication mechanism, and disciplinary build-up, etc., which laid a solid foundation for the new year and long-term development of the new institute.
At the meeting, the two sides exchanged their views and had in-depth discussions on the admission requirement, faculty team building, discipline development, the improvement of training programmes and quality assurance system, etc. In the next stage, the ICI would aim at providing education with higher quality, build a quality assurance system integrating the two universities, build a faculty team with high-level teaching ability and rich practical experience, have the teaching support composed of professional teaching assistants and full-time technicians, encourage the regular exchange and training of academic and administrative staff of the two universities, and achieve a mutual trust, mutual learning, well-coordinated and highly efficient communication mechanism, so as to make sure that the improvement of education quality and the sustainable and healthy development of the institute would continue.
President and Vice-Chancellor Bashir Makhoul said that in the past year, all the plans of the ICI had been progressing in an orderly manner, and the achievements had met the initial targets and expectation thanks to the cooperation between the two universities. He thanked XMU for its active support in all aspects and the hard work of the faculty and staff. He firmly believed that with a common vision, the two universities would continue to enhance mutual trust and be united as one, and would jointly realize the bright future of ICI. He also hoped to visit our university as soon as possible with the ease of the epidemic and further expand the cooperation between the two universities.
President Zhang Rong said that with the joint efforts of the two universities, the ICI was established successfully, had since been running smoothly and gaining momentum. The ICI is a good demonstration of the in-depth cooperation between XMU and UCA. It is a pioneering practice of education in XMU in the new century. Both universities have given great expectations, attention and support to it. Its development has also drawn great attention from the Ministry of Education, other universities, and people from all walks of life. President Zhang Rong also thanked UCA for their support for the construction and development of the new institute and Professor Lu Maozu for his wisdom and experience in the smooth operation of the project. He hoped that the two universities would continue to work together to build the institute into a first-class institute with a focus on creativity and innovation in education well-known at home and abroad.
