On November 20th, Prof. David Mba, fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Vice Chancellor of Birmingham City University, and his delegation visited Wuhan Textile University(WTU). Prof. Xu Weilin, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of WTU met with the British guests in the conference room of the Administration Building of Sunshine Campus. Prof. Fu Xin, Vice President of WTU hosted the talks. The staff of International Office, and Birmingham Institute of fashion & Creative Art (BIFCA) attended the meeting.
Xu Weilin extended a warm welcome to David Mba and his delegation, expressed his sincere thanks to the British leadership and staff for their strong support to the cooperation between the two universities over the years, and introduced WTU achievements in the core areas of discipline construction and scientific research in recent years. Xu Weilin said that since establishing our partnership in 2014, both sides have co-founded BIFCA, Hubei Province's first undergraduate-level Sino-foreign cooperative institution. Together, it has cultivated over 2,000 application-oriented creative design talents with international perspectives, and in 2022, the institute successfully passed the MOE’s evaluation of Sino-foreign cooperative programs with outstanding results. Xu Weilin also shared the research experiences for the Fabric national flag displayed on the moon with the probe Chang-e 5 and 6, and looked forward to deepening cooperation through academic exchanges and research collaborations within the framework of our partnership.
David Mba expressed his sincere gratitude for the warm reception and spoke highly of the achievements of the cooperation between the two universities. David Mba pointed out that in the era of rapid development of science and technology, the integration of art and technology is giving birth to a strong driving force for the transformation and upgrading of the fashion industry, and also leads the direction for the future development of mankind. Standing in the new cooperation opportunity period, the two universities should actively adapt to the development trend of the industry and the trend of The Times, improve the international education and teaching system in the process of cooperation in running schools. Guided by the integration of art, materials and science, BIFCA should actively explores a new mode of talent cultivation for the fashion industry, and promotes the comprehensive, coordinated and high-quality development of the cooperative education through curriculum optimization, major adjustment, cultivation level improvement and teacher exchange.
During the talks, staff from both sides discussed and reached a preliminary consensus on issues of mutual concern such as enrollment scale, financial management, classification of discipline, curriculum construction and teacher training. The two universities agreed that in view of the fact that Birmingham City University has the largest jewelry school in Europe, ranked first in the UK, which has strong faculty and rich academic achievements in the field of jewelry design. The two sides plan to add the major of jewelry design in BIFCA, cultivate international creative talents in the fields of jewelry design, jewelry craft and jewelry business.
Taking the opportunity of adding the major of jewelry design, WTU will promote the cultivation high-level talents with master’s and doctor’s degrees and scientific research cooperation in the subject of design. With People-to-People and academic exchanges between China and the UK as a link, both sides will integrate jewelry design and textile technology, fabrics and accessories, cultivate students' interdisciplinary creative thinking and high-level practical ability. At the same time, actively carry out research in the field of jewelry and fashion. Through the establishment of multiple exploration and practice platforms of different dimensions by Chinese and British teachers, focusing on the fields of Chinese cultural inheritance and innovation, green, intelligent and sustainable fashion, international vision and diversity and inclusiveness, and striving to carry out research projects to promote the development and innovation of China's fashion industry in the directions of jewelry design, materials and accessories, process technology and market development, so as to achieved a series of innovative research achievements.
In addition, the delegation also visited BIFCA, Textile Science and Technology Museum and Non-Material Cultural Heritage Center. During his visit to BIFCA, David Mba delivered an academic report on education development trend of fashion, and had a comprehensive understanding of the construction of BIFCA and the quality of talent cultivation through discussions with teachers & students and watching student art and design exhibitions.
