On April 21, 2022, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) and China Tobacco Sichuan Investment Company held a signing ceremony for a framework agreement on university-enterprise strategic cooperation at China Tobacco’s Chengdu office. Those attending the event included Li Yongqiang (Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of SWUFE) and Guo Aiping (Leading Party Member and Vice General Manager of China Tobacco Sichuan Industrial). The signing ceremony was presided over by Yang Shilei (Dean of SWUFE-UD Institute of Data Science at SWUFE) and Qiu Zhan (Director of Kuanzhai Alley Smart Logistics Solution, China Tobacco Sichuan Investment Company).

Vice General Manager Guo Aiping expressed warm congratulations on this exciting university-enterprise strategic cooperation, and highlighted SWUFE’s featured education philosophy, rigorous training system, and successful graduate careers record. She hoped that by aligning with the social responsibility of state-owned enterprises in cultivating talents, China Tobacco Sichuan Investment Company would offer various comprehensive, career-building workshops and internship opportunities for faculty members and students at SWUFE, aimed at fostering the in-depth industry-education integration to achieve high-quality collaborative education. In addition, she hoped that SWUFE could provide China Tobacco with more intellectual and talent support to jointly address the operating issues within the company, cooperatively promoting the efficient connection between the education, innovation, and industry.

Vice President Li Yongqiang also expressed his sincere congratulations on the business growth of China Tobacco Sichuan Industrial in recent years. He hoped that the university-enterprise strategic cooperation could be the springboard to enhance students’ career skills by providing platforms for internships, heighten faculty members’ practical skills by launching workshops, and promote the application of innovation achievements by building a technology innovation platform. In the future, the two sides will promote the integrated development of production, education, and research to cultivate outstanding graduates as well as initiate innovative projects based on shared resources and synergies. During the signing ceremony, participants from SWUFE visited the brand culture center and Doufang/KUNGFU experience stores, and watched the company culture video of China Tobacco Sichuan Industrial.

The two sides conducted an in-depth discussion on the details of strategic cooperation in terms of academic research, internship opportunities, faculty training, and talent exchange. In the long run, the two sides look forward to using the signing of this agreement as an opportunity to carry out cooperation at various levels and to achieve win-win cooperation between the university and enterprise.

Editor: LOU Yaqi, LI Zeyu

Proofreading: Thomas Jack Dyson