On January 8, the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the Chinese Ministry of Education issued the reply onthe Change to School Operation Matters of the Queen Mary University of London Engineering School, Northwestern Polytechnical University(hereinafter referred to as QMES) (Jiao Wai Si Ban Xue [2020] No.84), approving that Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) will carry out the double master degree of Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools. The newly approved postgraduate programme includes four majors (or authorised degrees); Materials Science and Engineering, Polymer Chemistry and Physics, Organic Chemistry (Organic Electronics), Biomedical Engineering. In 2020, the programme officially enrols students with a duration of 3 years schooling (including 9-12 months inQMUL). The annual enrolmentheadcount is no more than 65 students in total per cohort, which is included in the national postgraduate enrolment plan and the NPU postgraduate enrolment plan. After graduation, students will be granted an NPU postgraduate graduation certificate, NPU masters degree certificate and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) masters degree certificate.

This is the first time that NPU has been approved at a masters level Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools since NPU launched the bachelor level Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools with QMUL in 2016. This breakthrough in the level and scale of joint education programme marks the new stage of our international cooperation in education.

As a top 100 university worldwide, QMUL is a member of the prestigious Russell Group (leading universities in the UK) and is one of the largest colleges from the University of London. The university has 9 Nobel Prize winners and a strong international academic reputation in fields related to materials science, medical engineering, electronic engineering and linguistics. QMUL graduates are held in high esteem by employers, and the university is known as “one of the best universities for student employability and graduate starting salaries.” (Taken from the 2014 Guardian newspaper university handbook). On October 14, 2018, during the celebration of the NPU 80^thanniversary and global partnership week, Principal Colin Bailey of QMUL and President Jinsong Wang of NPU signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for a Double Master’s Degree programme. This partnership established a solid foundation for expanding the research operations and opportunities in both universities.

QMES raised an evaluation application on running schools to the Chinese Ministry of Education on March 15, 2019 after multiple investigations and discussions on feasibility and submitted an evaluation report consisting of observation points (ten 1^stindex, 21 2^ndindex, and 89 important observation points) based on the Ministry of Education’s evaluation index system for Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools. The experts from the panel group from the Ministry of Education provided an onsite evaluation on June 6, 2019, giving a high assessment of the school’s operations. This marked the success of both universities by providing a wider policy environment for improving education through the double masters programme.

To facilitate the double masters degree programme application, from March to July 2019, a joint working group was founded, with the coordination of QMES, by QMUL and International Cooperation Office, Graduate School, School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Institute of Flexible Electronics and School of Life Sciences of NPU. The working group revised the joint education agreement, completed the programme feasibility study, and prepared the education programmes, which resulted in the application being approved by the Principal’s Office and JAC on 9^thJuly. It further passed on-site investigation and evaluation organised by the Education Department of Shaanxi Provincial Government on 23^rdJuly and was officially reported to MoE a week later. On 28^thNovember, QMES received a feedback with experts’ advice from the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges of MoE. After effective supplements to the feedback, the double masters degree programme application was formally approved on 8^thJanuary, 2020.

Under the guidance of the Education Department of Shaanxi Provincial Government and strong support of relevant departments and schools of both QMUL and NPU, four double masters degree programmes were successfully approved. It represents further cooperation by QMUL and NPU after the establishment of QMES, JRI-AMAS (Joint Research Institute of Advanced Materials and Structures) and ICTL (International Centre for Teaching and Learning). The success of the double masters degree programme application will promote the formation of an all-dimensional and systematic education system for cultivating internationalised, innovative undergraduate and graduate talents, as well as the formation of research cooperation mechanisms, to better serve the construction of the first-class university and first-class discipline and the Strategy of Invigorating China through Science, Technology and Education and the Strategy of Reinvigorating China through Human Resource Development.