On November 18, 2024, Tongji University's Pavia Week event officially kicked off at the Operations Research Building. The opening ceremony was presided over by Professor Roberto De Lotto, the Italian coordinator of the Tongji-Pavia Dual Degree Program in Architecture and Engineering and the representative for cooperation affairs at the University of Pavia. Lou Yongqi, Vice President of Tongji University, and Professor Antonella Forlino, Vice Rector of the University of Pavia, delivered opening remarks for Pavia Week via an online platform. Subsequently, Zheng Shiling, professor at Tongji University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Professor Angelo Bugatti from the University of Pavia jointly reviewed the 30-year history of cooperation between the two universities and the backdrop against which the dual degree program was established.

Qu Chen, Deputy Director of Tongji University's Foreign Affairs Office, expressed sincere gratitude to all participants from both sides and hoped for even more fruitful cooperation in the future. Professor Philip F. Yuan, Vice Dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Wang Yi, Director of the Department of Architecture, shared their experiences of academic exchanges and cooperation over the past three decades, highly praising the positive impact of the joint teaching with the University of Pavia on talent cultivation, and expressing their desire to continue and deepen this collaboration. Additionally, Professor Andrea Penna, Director of the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Pavia, and Xu Yunxia, Deputy Dean of Tongji's Sino-Italian College, also delivered speeches respectively.

Following the opening ceremony, the guests toured the Pavia Week exhibition, which will run until December 3. The exhibition displays the achievements of the dual degree program and looks forward to future directions of cooperation.

Professor Chen Yi, also attending the opening ceremony, he is the Chinese coordinator of the Tongji-Pavia Dual Degree Program, Professor Hua Xiahong from Tongji University, Assistant Professor Caterina Pietra from the University of Pavia, as well as dual degree program graduates who specially traveled back from various places, and University of Pavia students and alumni studying in Shanghai.

Overview of Cooperation between the University of Pavia and Tongji University's College:

The College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University and the University of Pavia have enjoyed nearly three decades of collaboration. In 2009, the University of Pavia established a special program to accept Tongji students for their master's degrees. In 2011, the two universities formally established the dual master's degree program. The University of Pavia is one of the earliest overseas institutions to collaborate with the college on international cooperation and joint teaching programs. The two universities have maintained close cooperation, jointly planning and participating in numerous significant activities, including the Tongji Young Architects special exhibition at the Milan Triennale in 2012, the 2016 Summer School, and the Shanghai Summer School 2023 European Program. Additionally, they have co-published multiple academic works, such as the English series Eating Together: Design and History by Professor Chen Yi and the University of Pavia. Furthermore, faculty and students from both universities have jointly participated in activities such as the surveying and mapping project of historical buildings in Vienna, joint design courses, and numerous joint thesis defenses, with participants from Italy, China, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Greece, Brazil, Tunisia, South Korea, and other countries.

Based on the cooperation within the dual degree program, faculty members from Tongji and Pavia frequently exchange visits and have established profound academic and research cooperation relationships. Building on joint teaching, the two sides have further explored deepening cooperative research projects and have co-authored and published over ten books, gradually forming the influential University of Pavia-Tongji University Architectural Thinking Series.

The Tongji University-University of Pavia Master's Dual Degree Program is jointly managed by Chinese program directors Chen Yi and Liu Kan, Deputy Director of the Department of Architecture, along with Italian director Roberto De Lotto. Each year, the program exchanges 10 graduate students in the fields of architecture and engineering, with all courses conducted in English and mutual recognition of credits. Upon completion, students receive a master's degree in architecture from Tongji University and an EU-recognized master's degree in architecture and engineering from the University of Pavia. Since 2011, the program has successfully jointly trained nearly 200 students from around the world.