President You Zheng of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) led a delegation to Portugal, Greece, and Italy from Nov 28 to Dec 2 to advance international collaboration in the joint training of outstanding engineers.

The visit focused on practical cooperation with top universities in Southern Europe, promoting student mobility and enhancing the quality of incoming international students.

In Portugal, the delegation visited the University of Lisbon and its Instituto Superior Tecnico. President You met with university leaders, reaching a consensus to expand cooperation from engineering into management and humanities. They signed an inter-university cooperation memorandum.

President You awarded Professor Carlos Guedes Soares, a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the title of HUST Advisory Professor. At the Instituto Superior Tecnico, agreements were signed for joint engineering cultivation programs and joint PhD degrees programs, and a new shipbuilding and marine intelligent equipment joint laboratory was inaugurated.

In Greece, the delegation visited the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. At NTUA, President You signed a memorandum to deepen teaching and research collaboration in new energy, emphasizing NTUA is an important partner of HUST’s China-EU Institute for Clean and Renewable Energy and looking forward to further integrating the industrial resources of China and Greece. The two universities also discussed joint master’s degree programs in energy area and industry-academic collaboration.

At the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, discussions focused on interdisciplinary cooperation in basic medicine, pharmacy, and management, using faculty and student exchanges as a bridge to strengthen interdisciplinary research and address global health challenges.

During the visit, HUST held an alumni gathering in Athens with 20 Greek alumni.

The delegation also met with representatives from the Chinese Embassy in Portugal and organized an Italian alumni exchange activity. These visits strengthened educational, scientific, and cultural ties, highlighting HUST’s commitment to global excellence in engineering education.