On the afternoon of May 4th, Mr. Francois DUROVRAY, president of the Departmental Council of Essonne of France and his delegation visited HUST, with the company of Mr. Olivier GUYONVARCH, the Consul General of France in Wuhan.

President Ding Lieyun held a meeting with them and extended his cordial welcome to the French guests. Others who were attending the meeting are representatives from International Exchange Center of HUST, the School of International Education, the School of Life Science and Technology, China-EU Institute for Clean and R enewable Energy, and the School of Optical and Electronic Information.

During the meeting, president Ding pointed out that the close cooperation with French universities including the University of Paris-Sud and the University of Évry Val d'Essonne has yielded fruitful results in the past few years. He also hoped to further the collaboration on teaching and research with higher education institutions in Essonne and explore deeper university-industry cooperation with Genopole in the region of Île-de-France(or near Paris).

Mr. Francois DUROVRAY spoke highly of the remarkable achievements made by HUST and universities in Essonne in the cooperation of research and education. He expressed that he would continue to closely follow the Sino-French programs and further support and facilitate the cooperation between universities of China and France. He also expected the both sides could deepen friendship and exchanges so as to lay a solid foundation for closer cooperation in broader fields and on a deeper level.

After the meeting, Mr. Francois DUROVRAY and his delegation visited the School of Life Science and Technology and had an in-depth discussion with the professors and students. Professor Yang Xiangliang, executive dean of the school, briefly introduced the development of the disciplines of the biology science and biomedical engineering. Professor Liu Jianfeng, vice dean of the school, briefed the delegation on the achievements of the 15-year cooperation between Cell Signal Transduction Laboratories of two countries. Professor Patrick Curmi, President of the University of Évry Val d'Essonne, introduced the Sino-French Master’s program on Biological Health.

Wuhan and Essonne has established a sister-city relationship since 2012. The past few years have witnessed the close cooperation between two countries in education, scientific research and economy.