On 6 July, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) and Minth Group officially signed a university-enterprise cooperation agreement. That morning, Hailan Xu, Chief Human Resources Officer of Minth Group, led the core team to visit UNNC. The two parties reached strategic cooperation on the industry-education integration programme and the master's internship programme. This marks another important milestone for the Faculty of Science and Engineering in deepening industry-education collaborative talent cultivation, signifying that the faculty's partnership with industry-leading enterprises has entered a deeper level.

Signing Ceremony: High-Calibre Delegations Witness the Launch of Cooperation

The signing ceremony was held at the UNNC on the morning of 6 July. University representatives in attendance included Dr Jenny Dong, Deputy Party Secretary of UNNC, Professor John Zhou, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and Professor Jian Yang, Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange. Enterprise representatives present included Hailan Xu, Chief Human Resources Officer of Minth Group, Shuai Guan, General Manager of the Automotive Electronics R&D Department, Xiaoji Lu, Recruitment Manager of the Research Institute, and Yingying Pan, Campus Recruitment Specialist.

At the ceremony, Dr Jenny Dong and Ms. Hailan Xu delivered speeches respectively. Both sides expressed that this cooperation represents a deep coupling of higher education resources and industrial practice platforms, which will inject new momentum into talent cultivation and technological innovation. Subsequently, the two parties formally signed the cooperation agreement and took a group photo.

Industry-Education Integration + Internship Programme: Seamless Connection from Classroom to Industry

This signing covers two core areas of cooperation. The first is the Industry-Education Integration Programme between the UNNC and Minth Group. The two parties will carry out in-depth cooperation in curriculum co-development, practical teaching, and collaborative research, focusing on Minth Group's advantageous fields such as automotive components, intelligent exterior systems, and lightweight materials, to promote the organic connection between the education chain and the industrial chain. The second is the Master's Internship Programme, through which the Faculty of Science and Engineering at UNNC will select outstanding master's students to intern at Minth Group's global R&D and production bases, allowing students to hone their engineering practice capabilities in real enterprise scenarios and bridging the "last mile" from campus to workplace.

As a global leading supplier of automotive exterior parts and body structural components, Minth Group has expanded from Ningbo to the world. The company currently employs 27,367 staff members and operates 78 factories and offices across 15 countries on 3 continents worldwide. Its business covers four major product lines: metal body systems, plastic parts, body structures, and electronics. With a diversified customer base serving over 80 global automotive brands, Minth is focusing heavily on the automotive electrification sector and has grown into the world's largest supplier of battery boxes and body structural parts. Furthermore, Minth consistently adheres to green innovation principles, continuously expanding the use of green energy in its operations, and is committed to driving innovation in the automotive industry with high-quality components that meet top global standards.

In the roundtable discussion, multiple scholars from UNNC's Faculty of Science and Engineering and Minth Group enterprise representatives engaged in in-depth exchanges on topics such as technology demand alignment, joint research tackling, and talent cultivation programmes. The two sides identified potential cooperation opportunities in multiple directions including lightweight intelligent exterior systems, thermal management of electric drive systems, and new material applications, with a lively atmosphere of on-site discussion.

Rooted in Ningbo, Connected to the Globe: Another New Model of University-Enterprise Cooperation

As a leading enterprise in global automotive exterior and body structural components, Minth Group's partnership with the UNNC, which possesses international education resources, is not only another exemplary model of university-enterprise cooperation but also a vivid practice of the deep integration of "Ningbo Manufacturing" and "Ningbo Education." The two sides will take this signing as a starting point to continuously deepen cooperation in technology tackling, achievement transformation, and joint talent cultivation, jointly creating a new benchmark for industry-education integration and contributing more strength to the industrial upgrading and innovative development of Ningbo and even the Yangtze River Delta region.