Since China's reform and opening-up in 1978, ZJSU has made great progress by adopting the internationalized education strategy. With the combined efforts of faculty and students, the university leaders have attached great importance to the international exchange and cooperation programs, making the scale enlarged, content enriched and level enhanced. Our university has successively signed cooperation agreements with more than 80 universities and scientific research institutions from more than 50 countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, and South Korea, etc. Moreover, we have started cooperation programs with over 20 foreign universities and research institutions in the areas of faculty and students exchange, mutual acknowledging of credits, scientific research cooperation, etc. Sponsored by British government fund, the program Key Technology of Storing and Processing the Main Perishable and Browning Fruits Specified in the Southern Areas was awarded the Second National Prize for Scientific and Technological Advance in 2008; Another program---MPM, in cooperation with University of Quebec, has trained about 400 postgraduates who have become effective contributors to local economic construction and development.
With the expansion of international interaction and the overall improvement of our university, we have hosted and sponsored more than 20 large-scale international activities and high-level academic conferences in recent years. We have many important guests and visitors, such as Yokoi Yutaka, Japanese Consul General in Shanghai, who, together with other distinguished guests, came to attend the grand activity of '2008 Zhejiang Japanese Culture Week'; Mr. Herv Ladsous, French Ambassador to China, who gave an address at the inauguration ceremony of Zhejiang Gongshang University French Union---Alliance Francaise de Hangzhou. Then, we hosted the Second Statistics Annual Conference in China, with more than 200 participants from research institutions, universities and colleges in the United States, Sweden and other countries, as well as in the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong of China. Karl G. Jöreskog, the member of the Nobel Committee in Economics, academician of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and former chairman of Swedish Statistical Society, together with other famous scholars, attended the conference and made wonderful presentations for the audience.
In recent years, our university has employed over 180 foreign teachers from the United States, Britain, Germany, Australia, Japan, South Korea, etc; invited foreign experts and scholars to give over 500 short-term courses or lectures; and had over 2300 foreign guests and visitors. Prominent progresses have been achieved in the levels and scales of international education, especially in student exchange and SEPP (Spoken English Promotion Project), which takes the leading position in Zhejiang Province, and possesses an international influence. In 2008, we admitted 233 international students for long-term study, 22 international students for degree study, and over 60 international students for short-term study. International students at ZJSU are characterized by the differences of study levels and they are from diverse countries such as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Ghana and some other 33 countries. Among them, there were Chinese Language students, exchange students, and degree students pursuing Bachelor, Master or PhD degrees. ZJSU also energetically provides conditions for them to participate in all kinds of after-class social, cultural and recreational activities: our foreign students have won the Silver Prize in the First Zhejiang Provincial Chinese Classic Poetry Reading Competition; and over 20 students participated in the 4th China Huangshan International Mountain Climbing Competition and won the First Prize among Foreign Groups.
The main university offices concerning foreign affairs or foreign nationals include the International Affairs Office, the College of International Education and the Alliance Francaise de Hangzhou, with 17 permanent staff.
