On the afternoon of October 14th, at China International Rubber Industry Expo in Qingdao, the signing ceremony of “Sino-Thai International Rubber College (STIRC)” was held among Qingdao University of Science and Technology (QUST), Prince of Songkla University (PSU, Thailand) and Rubber Valley Group. STIRC opens a new page of the “going abroad” strategy and marks the beginning of overseas joint-education project of QUST. Gao Qing, Party Secretary of QUST, Dr. Chusak Limsakul, president of PSU, Zhang Yan, chairman of the board and president of Rubber Valley Group Co., Ltd, as the representatives of the three cooperative parties, signed the contract.

It has been learned that there are only few majors, including business and administration, Chinese language and literature, traditional Chinese medicine science, traditional Chinese herbology and law, have overseas joint-education programs since the implementation of Interim Measures for the Administration of Colleges and Universities Engaged in Overseas Education in 2002. Featured by rubber major, Sino-Thai International Rubber College is the first joint-college for engineering in overseas education and a new attempt on “going global” strategy of Chinese higher education. Its students will be from Thailand, and need receive Chinese-training before they go to China for further study. The college is a novel form for Chinese culture going overseas following Confucius Institute.

The establishment of Sino-Thai International Rubber College (STIRC) is the concrete step to the implementation of the national strategy of “One Belt One Road”. Holding the principles of “One Belt One Road, Rubber Media, Education First”, STIRC is aiming at building a team of teachers with high level and high quality, cultivating inter-disciplinary high-level engineers and management talents for chemical and rubber industries who know cultural backgrounds of China and Thailand, have the language competence of Thai, Chinese and English and are familiar with international rules. Doing so it can provide human resources in economy and trade, science and technology, culture, exchanges and cooperation for both Thailand and China, and offer services for China’s national diplomacy and foreign economy and cooperation. The founding of STIRC will further strengthen QUST’s core competitiveness, promote its international influence and improve its educational internationalization.

Sino-Thai International Rubber College (STIRC) will have undergraduate, postgraduate and vocational programs, and start to recruit students in the coming year.

The four-year undergraduate program will have three majors of High-polymer Material and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Automation, and every academic year STIRC will enroll 300 students who will be selected by PSU based on the related laws and regulations of Thai higher education. The program will adopt a “2+2” model, that is to say, in the first two years, students have to finish general basic courses, some specialty basic courses and Chinese courses at PSU; after meeting the admission requirements of QUST, they will be selected to study at QUST in the second two years. After finishing the four year study, students can have graduation diploma and Bachelor’s degree of both universities if they meet the graduation requirements and standards, and have degree awarding qualifications of QUST and PSU.

The three-year postgraduate program will offer the same three majors as those of the undergraduate program, and enroll 100 students per academic year. Undergraduates from Sino-Thai International Rubber College or other Thai colleges and universities can apply for postgraduate study. The registered students will finish their 3-year study at QUST and will get diploma and Master’s degree of QUST after graduation if all requirements are met.

In vocational program, Sino-Thai International Rubber College (STIRC) can offer employee training services in technology, management, marketing, vocational skill appraisal. STIRC can also train personnel for special posts according to the related demands of Thai rubber companies.

It is known that the three cooperative parties will hold the unveiling ceremony for Sino-Thai International Rubber College in Thailand in early November. The administration commission of the STIRC will be established with a QUST president as the director.

(Translated by Wu Tengfei)