From August 18 to 22, DMU Vice-President Zhao Youtao led a delegation to Sri Lanka for a working visit. During the visit, the delegation attended the 2019 Graduation Ceremony of DMU’s Sri Lanka campus, and visited Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College (CINEC) and Colombo International Container Terminals Ltd. (CICT) invested by China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited.
On the morning of August 19, the DMU delegation had a meeting with Nalaka Jayakody, Vice-President of CINEC and Lalith Edirisinghe, dean of CINEC. The two sides exchanged views on further exchanges between teachers and students and expansion of academic cooperation programs. Zhao Youtao granted Nalaka with a visiting professor certificate on behalf of DMU. After the meeting, the delegation and the postgraduate students of CINEC held a discussion for advice mainly on the majors of teachers sent by DMU and the teaching content.
On the afternoon of August 19, Zhao Youtao had a meeting with Ajith Priyantha Peiris, President of CINEC. Zhao Youtao said the Sri Lanka campus has trained more than 300 students (including undergraduates and postgraduates) since 2006, and hoped to continue to strengthen cooperation in the future to train more and better talents. In order to enhance mutual understanding and exchanges between teachers and students, DMU will send outstanding teachers to the Sri Lanka campus to conduct teaching, academic lectures and related liaison and coordination for improving the standards of teachers in the Sri Lanka campus. CINEC-DMU cooperation is not only between the two universities, but also represents the implementation of the national "Belt and Road" initiative. Both sides signed the CINEC-DMU Cooperation Agreement on the basis of a consensus on cooperation.
On the afternoon of August 20, the delegation visited CICT, and hold talks with its Chinese managers. Huang Peng, the director and CEO of CICT introduced China Merchants Group’s investment and construction in Sri Lanka, focusing on the construction, development and future plan of the Colombo’s international container terminal and expressing the appreciation to DMU for actively implementing the school-enterprise cooperation. Fu Xianping, the director of International Cooperation and Exchange Office, introduced the situation of DMU’s Sri Lanka CINEC campus, and the two sides reached a consensus on joint training, staff training, academic lectures and internships. Zhao Youtao thanked the China Merchants Group for its long-term support for the construction and development of DMU and admired China Merchants Group’s development strategy, social responsibility and corporate culture. The delegation had field visit to Colombo International Container Terminal.
On the afternoon of August 21, the 2019 Graduation Ceremony of DMU’s Sri Lanka campus was held in Bandaranaike Memorial International Convention Hall in Colombo, and Zhao Youtao granted diplomas to 28 graduates. He said, DMU has been working with CINEC for more than a decade, and the Sri Lanka campus has become an important part of DMU’s international development strategy. Zhao Youtao granted the visiting professor certificate to Lalith on behalf of DMU, and hoped that DMU and CINEC would continue to develop in-depth exchanges between teachers and students, and strive to set an example for our overseas education, becoming a close bond to promote the friendly cooperation between the two governments, maritime communities and people.
During the visit, the delegation inspected the enrolment files, teaching calendars, syllabus, grades and analysis, attendance records, teaching plans and other teaching documents of the Sri Lanka campus, and had discussions with teachers and students.
