Opening Ceremony of SJTU Asia-Pacific Graduate Institute (SJTU-APGI)
November 28, 2019
On November 28, 2019, the Opening Ceremony of SJTU Asia-Pacific Graduate Institute (SJTU-APGI) was held at the CREATE Tower in Singapore. Xiaoyong Hong, Chinese ambassador to Singapore, attended the opening ceremony.
Ambassador Mr. Hong gave a welcome speech at the beginning of the ceremony, and Singapore Education Minister Ong Ye Kung sent a letter to the ceremony. Ambassador Mr. Hong and SJTU Party Secretary and Chairman of University Council, Prof. Jiang Sixian jointly inaugurated SJTU-APGI.
On behalf of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Prof. Jiang Sixian gave a keynote speech, in which he reviewed the history of SJTU and look forward to the future of SJTU-APGI. He congratulatory mentioned that APGI marks a new phase of international education of SJTU and friendship between Singapore and China.
Vice Dean of APGI, Prof. Dong Ming, introduced SJTU-APGI’s planning and vision. SJTU-APGI positions itself as an extension of SJTU’s education and research efforts, as well as a platform for overseas resource integration and internationalization. The overall goal of SJTU-APGI is to promote the innovation of systems and integration of resources, and in turn, open up new global prospects in the fields of education and research.
During the opening ceremony, Mr. Lee Yi Shyan, Mr. John Wu, Mr. Wu Hsioh Kwang, and Mr. Kuok Khoon Hong were appointed as the Honorary Directors of SJTU-APGI.
Internationalization has become a global trend in the development of education. Presented with the opportunities and challenges of the current international situation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) has decided to establish a graduate institute in Singapore based on Singapore’s policies and regulations, as well as developmental strategies of the new era. On 25 June 2019, SJTU Asia-Pacific Graduate Institute Ltd. (SJTU-APGI) was registered as a public company limited by guarantee in Singapore. It has also been registered as a Private Education Institution with Singapore’s Committee for Private Education since October 1, 2019.
SJTU-APGI positions itself as an extension of SJTU’s education and research efforts, as well as a platform for overseas resource integration and internationalization. The overall goal of SJTU-APGI is to promote the innovation of systems and integration of resources, and in turn, open up new global prospects in the fields of education and research.
In the long run, SJTU-APGI aims to become a world-class overseas educational institution recognized not only in Singapore, but also internationally. SJTU-APGI also seeks to attract and groom global talents, and to become a center for innovation. This allows better access to collective wisdom of academics and talents worldwide, and exploration of cutting-edge scientific research methods.
SJTU joined CREATE, a large-scale scientific research project in Singapore, which laid a solid foundation for the development of SJTU-APGI. The National Research Foundation of Singapore (NRF) launched the CREATE project with the aim of introducing international wisdom to solve major global scientific and technological problems through multidisciplinary joint research. Since 2012, Shanghai Jiao Tong University has collaborated with the National University of Singapore to participate in the program of "Energy and Environmental Sustainability Solutions for Megacities (E2S2)", which is one of SJTU’s major research projects overseas. In addition to SJTU, participants of the CREATE program include other world-class universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Munich University of Technology, Zurich Federal Institute of Technology, Hebrew University, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and Cambridge University.