On the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of cooperation between Beijing Administration Institute (BAI) and Administrative College of NRW of Germany, Dr. Ludger Schrapper, President of NRW of Germany, accompanied by 11 other faculties, paid a visit to BAI from May 19^th to May 25^th. Mr. Wang Minzhong, Executive Vice-president of BAI, along with many other leaders and professors, received the delegation and held sincere dialogues with the German counterparts.

On May 21^st, the 10-year celebration ceremony was grandly commenced at BAI conference room. Attendants included leaders and professors from both colleges, and Mr. Hardy Boeckle, First Counselor of Cultural Affairs at the German Embassy as well. The ceremony was also joined by some scholars who have been promoting friendly exchanges between the two colleges over the years. BAI college committee member Liu Honglei presided over the ceremony. The attendants first watched a documentary produced by BAI which vividly reviewed the partnership, and it was praised by all. It was followed by Mr. Wang’s speech, in which he said, “By communicating with and learning from each other, we have not only broadened the horizons of our faculties in the two colleges, but also enhanced the friendship and understanding between the peoples in China and Germany.

On November 2007, Prof. Rainer Paulic helped an injured Chinese student out of danger during his visit of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, on the outskirts of Beijing; When the earthquake struck Wenchuan in Sichuan Province in May 2008, Dr. Schrapper and his colleagues were just paying a visit to BAI, and they took the initiative to donate for the relief work, expressing their friendliness to the Chinese people and their humanitarian spirit.” Dr. Schrapper fully agreed with Mr. Wang, and he added that this form of dialogue conducted between China and Germany is, indeed, a rare opportunity. He said that he was rather impressed by China’s rapid development and the sincerity and openness the Chinese people had shown for their foreign friends. He also expressed his appreciation for being invited by BAI and was looking forward to enhanced cooperation and exchanges of the two colleges in the coming decades.

Then, the China-Germany academic seminar was held, hosted respectively by Prof. E Zhenhui and Ga Rida from BAI and Prof. Mechthild Siegel and Harald Hofmann from the German side. More than 20 scholars present engaged in heated discussions towards urban environment protection, comparison between Chinese and German public management and law, German social policies, public management and sustainability, corruption, etc. As a result, the scholars from both sides had broadened their minds, acquired relevant information and data, and had touched on new academic ideas in their specialized areas of research. The heated atmosphere culminated in the Q&A session at the end of the conference. Even when the one-day conference drew to an end, the participants were still in high spirits to communicate. In Mr. Schrapper’ s closing remarks, he spoke highly of the scientific and sincere attitudes the scholars had shown in their communication, and he welcomed more young scholars and students from China to visit Germany and to have exchanges with their German counterparts. The closing remarks of BAI was delivered by Mr. Liu, in which he said that exchanges and cooperation are always a driving force for human progress, exemplified by the German missionary Adam Schall von Bell, who was buried in BAI ‘s Graveyard for foreign missionaries. He also encouraged enlarged exchanges and cooperation between the two colleges in order to contribute even more to the friendship of the two peoples.

During its stay, the German delegation visited many scenic spots and historical sites such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Chengde Summer Resort and had a first-hand experience of China’s customs, history and culture. By these, they had understood more deeply of the China’s changes brought by the adoption of the reform and opening up policy, and known much better of the real China. This visit, being a tremendous success, has laid a solid foundation for the in-depth cooperation in the future. We have every reason to believe that exchanges between the two colleges will be promoted to a new high level in the future.

In order to commemorate this occasion, BAI published more than 20 academic dissertations and journals written by scholars from both sides, a delicate brochure for the 10-year Anniversary of Cooperation, and made a DVD documentary recording the history of the cooperation, which can be dated back to the May of 2002, when the two colleges officially signed a cooperation agreement, hence initiating friendly exchanges of the two sides. Over the past decade, the two sides had exchanged visiting scholars for 14 times, held international academic conferences and lectures in Beijing and NRW of Germany respectively, in which the two colleges had in-depth discussions and exchanges over issues such as public administration, law, social security and welfare and environmental protection. In addition, the German side has also sent 5 student delegations, with a total number of 82 students, to visit BAI over the years.

Photo: Mr. Wang Minzhong talked with Dr. Ludger Schrapper, President of NRW of Germany

Photo: Mr. Hardy Boeckle, First Counselor of Cultural Affairs at the German Embassy,
was introduced to BAI executive vice president

Photo: BAI faculty in the seminar

Photo: Attendants from the German side

Photo: A group photo in Chengde, Hebei Province