A delegation of 80 people from Hsinchu-based Chiao-t'un University (HCTU) of Taiwan, came to attend a high-tech Taiwan-Shanghai development forum, which is part of the celebration program.

The two universities hope to jointly set up educational programs in information engineering as well as to cooperate in continuing education and tele-education. HCTU, which was originally an offshoot of SJTU, hopes to go on from this forum to further communication and cooperation with the four Jiaotong universities (the other three are Xi'an Jiaotong University, Southwest Jiaotong University and Northern Jiaotong University) on the Chinese mainland.

Other celebration events include exhibitions on the achievements and history of SJTU, lectures on new academic frontiers and international seminars. Donations from alumni for the forum have reached nearly 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million).

One of the four Chinese universities founded in the 19th century, SJTU hopes to develop itself into a modern world-class university, said Wang Zongjiang, executive director of the SJTU Council. "We are already well known for our strength in engineering, and in about 15 years time, we hope to complete the construction of facilities required to make us a first-class university," she said. SJTU was listed No.3 in an evaluation of 85 universities and institutes in the country by the Ministry of Education last year, falling only behind Peking University and Tsinghua University.

(People's Daily 04/09/2001)