On the afternoon of March 3rd, Professor Callum Thomas, Director of Sustainable Air Transport Research Center in Manchester Metropolitan University (“MMU” for short), and Mr. Christopher Paling, Manager of Climate Change Program from MMU visited CAUC, accompanied by Mr. Ian Lockhart, first Secretary of British Embassy in China, Mr. Wei Meng, Airport Industry Specialist of UK Trade and Investment, and Mr. Shayne Li, Transportation Officer of British Embassy in China. Mr. Dong Jiankang, president of CAUC, Vice President Mr. Yu Jian, and other representatives from CAUC attended the meeting.
To begin with, President Dong Jiankang extended a warm welcome to the distinguished guests and introduced the basics of CAUC, including its history, disciplines, faculties and scientific research. He pointed that, the cooperation between MMU and CAUC can be dated back to 2008, when the two parties signed a MOU to promote cooperation on the planning, design and management of sustainable (green) airport.
Professor Thomas said he was very pleased to visit CAUC and the purpose of this visit is to deepen cooperation between two parties on the basis of former MOU. He also introduced the courses and research on air transport environmental science of MMU. Other topics discussed in the meeting include releasing environmental capacity constraints to airport growth, developing collaborative environmental management systems at airports, ensuring sustainable mobility by integrating airports into the regional transport systems, development of an environmental business risk assessment methodology for airports and development of a computer based environmental management information system for airports.
The two parties also discussed the possibility of education cooperation, such as short courses programs, and MSc programs on Sustainable Aviation, etc..
Mr. Ian Lockhart said the British government had always been promoting educational cooperation between the two countries. He hoped the two universities can strengthen cooperation on air transport sustainable development research, and provide scientific and effective solutions for the rapid development of China civil aviation.
