On October 14, the signing ceremony for the strategic cooperation agreement between NEU and China Rare Earth Group was held in Room 308 of Hanqing Hall. Liu Leiyun, Party Secretary and Chairman of China Rare Earth Group, Li Zhihui, Deputy Party Secretary, Director, and General Manager of China Rare Earth Group, Guo Hai, Party Secretary of NEU, Feng Xiating, President and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Xu Wei, Vice President of NEU and Liu Yanhui, Assistant to the President of NEU attended the meeting, along with heads of relevant departments from both parties. Xu Wei presided over the meeting.
Guo Hai extended a warm welcome to Chairman Liu Leiyun and his delegation. Guo Hai stated that NEU has thoroughly implemented the ethos of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important reply to all faculty members and students of NEU, upheld the glorious tradition of patriotism, remained committed to the mission of educating students to revitalize the nation, and served the country’s major strategic needs. He expressed hope that both parties would take this strategic cooperation agreement as a new starting point to align with major national strategic tasks and jointly make new and greater contributions to ensuring the security of national strategic resources and advancing the development of China as a leading power in the rare earth sector. Liu Leiyun provided an overview of the Group’s development and progress. He noted that China’s rare earth industry is currently at a critical juncture, transitioning from a resource-based advantage to an innovation-based advantage. He expressed hope that, with this signing as a new starting point, the two parties would collaborate on establishing industry standards, tackling key technological challenges, and advancing a green and low-carbon transition. Feng Xiating stated that NEU would focus on major national strategies, use major scientific research tasks as a driving force, break down disciplinary barriers, and form interdisciplinary innovation teams. He expressed hope that both parties would jointly advance the construction of the National Technology Innovation Center to serve national strategic needs. Li Zhihui fully affirmed the foundation of previous cooperation between the two parties and expressed hope that NEU and the enterprise would further deepen their collaboration in the joint training of custom‑tailored talent development and outstanding engineers.
At the meeting, Feng Xiating and Li Zhihui signed a strategic cooperation agreement on behalf of NEU and the enterprise, respectively. The two parties will engage in comprehensive cooperation in areas such as discipline development, joint talent training, collaborative research, and the joint construction and sharing of innovation platforms. Together, they will create a model of collaborative innovation between a central state-owned enterprise and a top-tier university, contributing the strength of university-enterprise cooperation to fostering the development of new-quality productive forces and supporting the construction of modernization with Chinese characteristics.
Prior to the meeting, Liu Leiyun and his delegation visited the National Key Laboratory of Integrated Automation for Process Industries and the University History Museum.
