Recently, Guangxi University (GXU) held an online roundtable with the University of Padua, Italy. Massimiliano Zatin, Vice Rector of the University of Padua, attended the meeting. Yu Wenjin, Vice President of GXU, chaired the roundtable.

Firstly, Yu briefly introduced GXU’s basic information. He noted that the University of Padua has a long history of running schools and a complete range of disciplines. GXU and the University of Padua share high alignment and strong complementarities in key disciplinary areas such as agriculture and forestry, animal medicine, computer science and artificial intelligence, and biotechnology, presenting substantial cooperation potential. GXU will align with national policies on China–foreign cooperative education, optimize major structures and curriculum systems, and improve support for offline instruction by foreign teachers. By leveraging the distinctive strengths of each discipline, GXU aims to promote flexible and diverse modes of cooperation. The university also plans to rely on cooperative projects to carry out in-school teaching by foreign teachers and joint research, advancing long-term collaboration.

Massimiliano Zatin expressed the University of Padua’s emphasis on collaboration with Chinese universities and its accumulated experience. He hopes to fully leverage its disciplinary strengths and establish long-term, stable exchanges with GXU. The two sides will base their cooperation on the actual development of education in China and Italy, and refine actionable cooperation plans. He introduced three collaboration models with mature practices in China—2+2, 3+1 bachelor’s double degrees, and 3+1+1 integrated bachelor’s-master’s programs—and said Padua University will expedite the negotiation and alignment of a formal cooperation agreement, with the aim of swiftly bringing substantive cooperative projects to fruition.

During the roundtable, the two sides exchanged views on joint training, student exchanges, and integration of science and education, reaching a preliminary consensus on cooperation. Zhu Yu-hua, President of the China-Italy Exchange Association, participated online.