On April 26, the Award Ceremony of the 4th International Cultural Festival of NEU, themed "Boundless Vigor, New Horizons", was held in the Multi-functional Hall of the Student Activity Center. Zhang Yannan, Department of the International Exchange and Cooperation Office, Yang Bo, Vice Dean of the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Christophe and Gerald Ledru, Professors from the Université Toulouse III in France, as well as teachers and students in the Materials Science and Engineering (Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education) Program attended the event.
The programs of the event included not only traditional Chinese cultural performances such as the martial arts performance "The Essence of Martial Arts" and the classical dance "A Prose-Poem of Springtime Splendor", but also international cultural programs such as the French song "Les maudits mots d 'Amour" and the Indonesian song and dance "Maumere". There were also bilingual and culturally integrated adapted programs such as "Ding Dong", an excerpt from the French classic "Le Rouge et Le Noir", and "La Chine en Français". The diverse and wonderful acts were favored by the audience.
It is reported that the Materials Science and Engineering (Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education) Program of NEU is a four-year undergraduate program jointly offered by NEU and the Université Toulouse III. This program integrates the high-quality resources of key disciplines such as materials, mechanical engineering, and automation at NEU, introduces the high-level educational and research resources of the the Université Toulouse III and brings in international teaching staff. Through a professional student training plan, this program is intended to cultivate cutting-edge innovative talents with cross-cultural cooperation ability and international vision proficient in English and French and having interdisciplinary backgrounds in mechanical engineering, electronic and electrical automation. Since 2018, nearly 700 students have taken this Sino-French education program. The comprehensive quality of students has been continuously improving, and they have won the National Special Prize and the National Gold Prize in authoritative competitions such as the "National Innovation Competition" and the "Challenge Cup". Over the past three years, the average enrollment rate of domestic and international students has been close to 80%. Seventeen graduates of Class 2024 have been recommended for postgraduate studies and admitted to renowned universities such as Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and NEU. Twenty-three students have gone to QS100 universities such as the National University of Singapore, Paris-Saclay University and Imperial College London for further studies. Nineteen graduates of Class 2025 have been recommended for postgraduate studies and are about to enter renowned universities such as Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and the University of Science and Technology of China.
