The Australia-Sino Engineering Partnership has been launched as an alliance between the Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN) and the Excellence 9 League of Universities (E9).

Marking the start of this important partnership, the ATN signed a network to network Memorandum of Understanding with the E9 at an event at Northwestern Polytechnic University in Xi’an, attended by representatives from all ATN and E9 Universities. The MOU, formally signed by Prof Wang Jinsong, President of Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU) and ATN’s Chair, Martin Bean CBE, Vice-Chancellor of RMIT University, will encourage staff exchange, student mobility and industry focused research collaborations between the two countries.

This partnership is extremely significant in deepening links between Australia and China, with a commitment from both sides to grow strong links between students and engineering faculties; recognising the world-class expertise from both networks and commitment to tackling real-world problems.

ATN Executive Director, Renee Hindmarsh says, “a focal point of the ATN’s mission is identifying and developing international alliances and collaborations that provide rewarding opportunities for our students, staff and career researchers.”

“This MOU is a commitment from ATN member universities to demonstrate Australia’s capacity for innovation and collaboration on the international stage. It recognises the world-class reputation Australia’s technology universities have for producing work-ready graduates and real-world research. Almost a quarter of Australia’s engineering students attend ATN Universities.

“Students are at the heart of everything we do and deepening our relationship with China and the E9 universities will pave the way for a strategic collaboration to meet future challenges.

“Beyond the deep cultural and economic links between our two countries, there is a recognition that a profound and respectful relationship between Australia and China has the potential to change the lives of citizens from both countries,” says Ms Hindmarsh.

The ATN is a consortium of young and agile universities. They are the University of Technology Sydney, RMIT University in Melbourne, the University of South Australia in Adelaide and Curtin University in Perth. The E9 is a consortium of leading Chinese technology universities. They are Northwestern Polytechnic University, Beijing University of Technology, Dalian University, Tongji University, Harbin University of Technology, Southeast University, South China University of Technology, Tianjin University and Chongqing University