Bloomingthe world with more than 10 years’ experience in International Programmes

Withthe support from the Ministry of Commerce of People’s Republic of China(MOFCOM) and the coordinated efforts by the UN Environment Program-TongjiInstitute of Environment for Sustainable Development (IESD) which has a lot ofexperience in International degree education, the MOFCOM sponsored InternationalMaster Programme in Environment Management and Sustainable Development wereestablished since 2015. In these 2 years, a total of 45 government and NGO'sproject officers from "one belt one road" countries were enrolled to theprogramme. On June 2017, 24 government and NGO's project officers from 24different countries fulfilled their 2 years academic programme,successfully defended their research theses and graduated with great honorand support from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), TongjiInternational Students Office, School of Postgraduates, and the other logisticsupport team and department.

In2006, the UN Environment Program-Tongji Institute of Environment forSustainable Development (IESD) and College of Environmental Science andEngineering launched the International Master and Doctoral Degree Program suchas Environmental Management and Sustainable Development Program andEnvironmental Engineering Program. These 2 disciplines had garnered theinterest of 244 international students from 73 countries, all over Asia andAfrica, Europe, the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean. Over theyears, IESD has always been committed to the establishment of advancedinternational education model and the training of high-level technicalpersonnel from various government organizations, NGOs and enterprises on aregional and global scale and especially from countries within the Belt andRoad initiative in the field of environmental and sustainable development.   

Apartfrom the regular academic content, IESD also invited and hired more than 10experienced professors from foreign universities, UN Environment programofficers and representatives from other international organizations, domesticand foreign enterprises to share their experiences and exchange knowledge withthe students. Each year, the Executive Director of UNEP visits TongjiUniversity and presents the most recent plans and objectives of the UNEP reportto the students and lecturers. In addition, IESD continues to be very active inorganizing various types of academic talks and interactive activities to promotetraditional Chinese culture and to provide a better understanding of thehistory of Tongji University as well as the history of the People's Republic ofChina. Besides, students were also encouraged to participate in activities suchas international internships, conferences and short-term training after thefirst academic year, in order to enrich their network resources and to build upa solid foundation for future career.

Inthis 2017 graduation season, 35 international students from 25 countriesaround the world graduated from IESD with most of them returning to their jobs,which include the French Ministry of Environment, the Ministry ofAgriculture and Environment of Serbia, the Ministry of Natural Resources ofUkraine, the Ministry of Environment of Romania, the Ministry of Economy andTrade of Indonesia, Zimbabwe Ministry of Agriculture, Liberia Ministry ofEnergy, Ethiopia Ministry of Environment and other various organizations andinstitutions, while some graduates have been offered work in Chineseorganizations or continue to stay in China for a further Doctoral study.

Eachyear 10 Chinese students from the candidates who had register for EnvironmentalScience Master Course in Tongji University will be selected by IESD and theSchool of Environmental Science and Engineering to join in the internationalcourse. This fusion allows international students to faster adapt and betterunderstand China and its people. At the same time, it allows the Chinesestudents to broaden their perspectives and understand about the world culturewithout going to study aboard. For the future academic education, IESD willcontinue to work hard and establish a more complete and comprehensiveinternational education model, in order to attract more outstanding domesticand foreign students, and most importantly to promote the regional and theglobal higher education on environmental management and sustainabledevelopment.