On May 14, the 2026 Chengdu International Friendship Cities Cooperation and Development Conference, hosted by Chengdu Municipal People's Government, opened in Chengdu. Capitalizing on the momentum of the conference, on May 13 and 14, a delegation from GEA College of Slovenia and the Deputy Mayor of Palermo, Italy, visited Chengdu University successively. As the secretariat unit of the Chengdu International Sister Cities Higher Education Institutions Alliance, Chengdu University has been actively serving as a bridge to advance educational cooperation and support the city's opening-up.
On the afternoon of May 14, Alessandro Anello, Deputy Mayor of Palermo, Italy, visited Chengdu University. Zhu Ming, Secretary of the Party Committee of Chengdu University, met with Alessandro Anello and his delegation. Zhu noted that as the host university of the Athletes' Village for the 31st Summer World University Games, Chengdu University had made substantial progress in graduate student exchanges with the University of Palermo. He expressed expectations for both sides to expand further cooperation in fields such as tourism management, sports industry, and art design.
Anello stated that the city of Palermo places great importance on leveraging higher education as a bridge in sister-city relationship, and will support programs such as “sport+tourism” management professionals training and short-term summer study tours. He warmly invited faculty and students of Chengdu University to visit Palermo.
On the morning of May 13, Katja Kraškovic, Board Member and Dean of GEA College in Slovenia, and her delegation visited Chengdu University. Peng Xiaolin, Vice President of the university, had discussions with the guests. Peng expressed hope to use specific projects of the Business School and the Entrepreneurship College as a starting point for cooperation to innovate joint talent cultivation models and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
Kraškovic introduced the educational features of GEA College, which focuses on MBA programs, vocational training, and business incubation, and looked forward to cooperation in areas such as joint student training, innovation and entrepreneurship, e-commerce training, and entrepreneur incubation.
During their stay at Chengdu University, Anello and his delegation visited the Traditional Crafts Institute and the International Department of the College of Chinese & ASEAN Arts. The delegation from GEA College visited the Entrepreneurship College (College of Technology Transfer) and the Business School of Chengdu University.
Representatives from the Foreign Affairs Office of Chengdu Municipal People's Government, the University's Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, the Business School, and the Entrepreneurship College (College of Technology Transfer), and the International Department of the College of Chinese & ASEAN Arts participated in the relevant events.
The 2026 Chengdu International Friendship Cities Cooperation and Development Conference was held in Chengdu from May 14 to 16, under the theme of "Openness for Win-Win Cooperation, Partnership for Shared Progress". Delegations from 37 friendship cities across 28 countries attended the conference. The visits by Slovenia's GEA College and the city of Palermo were both important bilateral events under the framework of the conference, which demonstrates Chengdu University's proactive role in supporting the city's opening-up through educational cooperation and fostering China-Europe cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Leveraging the resources of the Athletes’ Village and its disciplinary strengths, Chengdu University keeps expanding pragmatic cooperation with sister-city universities in innovation and entrepreneurship, industry-education integration, and cultural exchanges, injecting impetus from higher education into Chengdu's internationalization and China-Europe cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
Editor: Min Xiuling Executive Editor: Lyu Jia
