Bialystok University of Technology provides remote classes for Chinese students

The Tianjin-based International School of Engineering is a joint venture between Tianjin Chengjian University, Bialystok University of Technology and Cracow University of Technology. Work on establishing the school began as early as in 2017, on the basis of well-developing cooperation. The first agreement between Bialystok University of Technology and TCU was signed in December 2013 by the then rectors of the universities: Prof. Zhong-Xian LI and Prof. Lech Dzienis. As part of the implementation of this agreement, the first scientists from TCU came to Bialystok University of Technology already in 2014. Within the framework of the project “Raising the potential of universities as a factor in the development of a knowledge-based economy”, the Faculty of Engineering Management hired Prof. Yu Zhang as a visiting professor, while the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences hired Prof. Yuan Zhong. In turn, employees of Bialystok University of Technology went to the Chinese university as visiting professors. Prof. Piotr Banaszuk and Assoc. Prof. Marta Kosior-Kazberuk, DSc, PhD, Eng stayed at Tianjin Chengjian University in 2015, while another four Polish professors taught there in 2017.

An important step in the cooperation between Bialystok University of Technology and Tianjin Chengjian University was the conclusion of a double diploma agreement in 2016 for the field of civil engineering, first and second degree studies. Nearly 100 TCU students have taken advantage of the double degree programme and, in addition to a diploma from their home university, they can also be proud of a diploma from our university.

Student and staff mobilities were also carried out under the Erasmus+ project, KA107.

A detailed agreement for the operation of the International School of Engineering at Tianjin Chengjian University was signed in June 2021. The ceremony, attended by representatives of the three universities, was held using a remote communication platform. On behalf of Bialystok University of Technology, the signature was made by Rector Assoc. Prof. Marta Kosior-Kazberuk, DSc, PhD, Eng.

The document clarified the provisions of the tripartite agreement already concluded in 2017. Chinese students study in their own country under the guidance of Polish scientists and receive a double diploma. Lecturers from Bialystok University of Technology will take care of education in the fields of civil engineering and environmental engineering, and experts from Cracow University of Technology: architecture and landscape architecture.

The study programmes were jointly prepared by Tianjin Chengjian University, Bialystok University of Technology and Cracow University of Technology and meet the curriculum requirements of both the Ministry of Education of the PRC and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

The education was provided from the 2020/21 academic year. However, due to constraints related to the COVID-19 pandemic, lecturers from Białystok were unable to travel to Tianjin to deliver classes to first-year Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering students (semesters III and IV). Therefore, in 2021/2022, after successfully passing the language examinations, students from TCU studied mainly remotely (group of 121). A group of 12 students came to Bialystok University of Technology for full-time classes. In the current academic year (2022/2023), we are educating more than 180 TCU students remotely in the winter semester. As of the summer semester, this number will increase to more than 200 students.

The meeting on 30 November 2022 (online) is the result of complementary agreements on, among other things, the rules for taking classes remotely within the International School of Engineering, resulting from the constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic condition in China.

On the part of Tianjin Chengjian University, the videoconference was attended by, among others, TCU Rector Mr Haili Bai and TCU Vice Rector and ISE President Mr Zhongliang Wang. Cracow University of Technology was represented, among others, by the Rector, Prof. Andrzej Białkiewicz, DSc, PhD, Eng, Arch. and Prof. Jan Kazior, DSc, PhD, Eng. Bialystok University of Technology was represented by the Rector, Assoc. Prof. Marta Kosior-Kazberuk, DSc, PhD, Eng, the Vice-Rector for International Cooperation, Assoc. Prof. Dorota Krawczyk, DSc, PhD, Eng, Prof. Lech Dzienis, DSc, PhD, Eng, Dariusz Andraka, PhD, Eng, Prof. Katarzyna Zabielska-Adamska, DSc, PhD, Eng, Beata Backiel-Brzozowska, PhD, Eng, Ewa Szatylowicz, PhD, Eng, and Małgorzata Malinowska-Czuprys, head of the International Relations Office.

(prepared by mr on the basis of materials from the International Relations Office)