On Oct. 28th, Andrek Lesufi, minister of Gauteng Department of Education, South Africa, led a delegation of 4 members and visited Shanghai Administration Institute (SAI) in the company of the political consul of the Consulate-General in Shanghai. Prof. Wang Guoping, Executive Vice President of SAI, hosted the meeting.

    Wang Guoping expressed welcome to the delegation, and recalled his visiting to Gauteng Department of Education two years ago, when Mr. Lesufi received him with warm hospitality. He went on to make an overall introduction of the institute. Now SAI operates in the pattern of group-school-running system, i.e. one main campus plus five individual branches. The faculty number amounts to nearly 500, and about 50,000 person-times trainings are carried out annually. Focusing on its roles in cadre training, scientific research, government consultancy and post-graduate education, SAI integrates such functions as teaching, researching and consulting into an organic unity, and continuously enhances its capacity in educational training and policy-making consultation. The institute attaches increasing importance to internationalization. At present it has signed cooperation agreements with 36 foreign official training institutions and well-known universities, including Harvard and Oxford as well as Gauteng City Region Academy (GCRA). By cooperating and sharing resources, SAI has managed to run a number of joint projects with them.

    Mr. Lesufi said that the visit aimed at strengthening cooperation and exchange between Gauteng Department of Education and SAI in fields of government officials’ capacity development, innovation programs, and joint trainings of different forms. Wang Guoping suggested that we go to detailed discussion on potential collaborative programs by keeping in close contact.