Academic partnership at its best with UTSEUS

Siveco has always been a strong proponent of partnering with universities and other educational institutions as a means to constantly bring new ideas and foster innovation, to better prepare and recruit qualified personnel and perhaps to make a modest contribution to our society.

Ever since Siveco started its Chinese operation in late 2004, the preferred recruitment method has been to offer internship opportunities to students in their final year of studies. Siveco China has since developed its relationships with the academic world much further, with a history of cooperation with local universities (Shanghai University, Zhejiang University) as well as foreign institutions, such as ESSTIN (the first engineering institute to have launched a dedicated maintenance and reliability program in France, with which Siveco China has worked since 2005) or leading business school HEC (preparation of a China-based training program for Indian Ministry of Railway personnel in 2008).

In 2008, a partnership was launched with the Sino-European School of Technology of Shanghai University (known as “UTSEUS” www.utseus.shu.edu.cn), a cooperation project which has delivered significant benefits and is now expanding to new areas.

In 2005, Shanghai University and the French Universities of Technology signed a cooperation agreement to jointly create the Sino-European School of Technology of Shanghai University (UTSEUS). A year later, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China officially approved the creation of UTSEUS.

By combining the strengths of Shanghai University and the French Universities of Technology (UT), the objectives of UTSEUS are:

•  To set up an international platform by introducing the French engineer training models
•  To cultivate advanced engineering and senior technical management personnel
•  To develop students’ cross-cultural competence and prepare them with knowledge of international engineering design regulations in the Sino-French cultural environment

UTSEUS pursues the goal of elite culture which is well expressed in the quality of students, academic reasoning, engineering teaching methods, scientific research and development, and cooperation both home and abroad.

After they successfully completed a 4-year program, students are awarded a Bachelor’s degree by Shanghai University. Those with satisfactory academic performance and the French proficiency certificate in the first three years of the program can apply, in the fourth-year, for further study in UT or its European partner universities. The further study in France will last two and a half years (or 2 years). Upon graduation, they will be awarded Shanghai University undergraduate diploma and French Engineer’s Degree (or Master’s degree).

Education at UTSEUS is developed along three main axes: teaching, research and industrial relations. UTSEUS attaches great importance to developing relations with enterprises. An Industrial Relations Office has been set up to promote cooperation between UTSEUS and the corporate world in the following main areas:

•  Cooperation in student development
•  Cooperation in strategic development
•  Cooperation in R&D
•  Corporate training

As of October 2010, the cooperation between Siveco China and UTSEUS covers the following activities:

Joint projects

UTSEUS has contributed resources to a variety of Siveco projects, ranging from internal (R&D, methodology) to actual customers’ projects (a approach which has proven to be very cost effective for customers, with Siveco guaranteeing the quality of the project). One example of such project would be the maintenance audits provided to World Expo 2010 pavilions (see below).

Teaching

Siveco China’s experts are since this autumn semester teaching a course at UTSEUS. The 10-hour program aims at providing the fundamentals of maintenance management to a class of mechanical engineers, with a specific view of using technological tools to enable long-term improvement. The course is based on the extensive use of case studies and is complemented by a real-life industrial project. As part of the course, Siveco’s CMMS and mobile solutions are made available free of charge to faculty and students.

Research

Along with larger industrial corporations, Siveco is taking part in the “Complexcity” research program and the associated lab, focused on:

•  Urban security and risk management
•  Transportation, logistics and Intelligent Transportation Systems
•  Urban modeling, planning and management
•  Evolution of the urban development model

The “Maintenance in China” survey 2010

Based on Siveco’s strong maintenance benchmarking practice, the company has since 2006 been running an annual “Maintenance in China” survey targeting multinationals in coordination with the European Chambers of Commerce. The 2008 edition covered more than 1,500 MNCs operating in the country and over 500 local companies. The association with UTSEUS brings new blood to the 2010 edition of the survey, to be launched in November: drawing on Siveco’s experience, UTSEUS lends its academic credentials to the project and will ensure an in-depth analysis. The survey report, sent to all participants, will be presented at Shanghai University towards the end of the year. If you would like your company to be included in the 2010 survey, please drop us a short mail at info@sivecochina.com.

Preparing for the “second life” of World Expo pavilions

A joint UTSEUS-Siveco team is currently conducting maintenance audits at various Expo pavilions. This third-party assessment, totally independent from construction companies, equipment suppliers and FM service providers, consists in a review of the technical history over the 6-month Expo period and provides a comprehensive analysis report covering future maintenance needs. This report will offer valuable input to make the case for the second life of the pavilion (for example its conversion to a permanent office building or its relocation). Three UTSEUS students are presently working on the project, embedded within Siveco’s own project teams.

The thriving partnership between UTSEUS and Siveco represents a shining example of the mutually beneficial relationship that can be achieved between industry and academics. The additional workload on Siveco, which is significant, is easily paid back by the regular influx of ideas and innovations that help Siveco China stay ahead of its competitors.

We are always open to new partnerships! For more information, feel free to contact our Value Added Partner Program manager at vapp@sivecochina.com.

Tags： VAPP、Expo 2010、assessment、survey、UTSEUS