XAUAT News Network — On April 13, a delegation of university leaders from Croatia, including presidents, vice presidents and deans from University of Zagreb and Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, visited Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology (XAUAT). Vice President Chen Rong met with the delegation at the Yicheng Innovation Center on the Yanta Campus. Representatives from the Office of International Affairs, the School of Art, and the School of Language, Literature and Law attended the meeting.
During the discussion, Chen Rong welcomed the delegation and provided an overview of the University’s history, disciplinary strengths, and progress in internationalization. He noted that exchanges between China and Croatia have grown increasingly close, evolving from the cultural interactions fostered by the ancient Silk Road to the mutual trust and connectivity promoted through the Belt and Road Initiative. Educational cooperation, he emphasized, has become a highlight of bilateral relations.
Chen pointed out that in 2025, the Confucius Institute at the University of Zagreb, through the “Chinese Bridge” program sponsored by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation, organized a delegation of 51 faculty members and students to visit XAUAT, laying a solid foundation for future cooperation. He expressed his expectation that the three universities would make full use of the platform provided by the Silk Road International Alliance of Architectural and Technological Universities to carry out in-depth exchanges and joint research across the entire architectural science and technology spectrum, share academic resources, cultivate outstanding talent, promote innovation, and jointly write a new chapter in China–Croatia higher education cooperation.
Representatives of the Croatian delegation, including Jasenka Ostojić, Jurica Pavičić, and Jurislav Babić, expressed their appreciation for the warm reception. They noted that the visit had given them a more comprehensive understanding of XAUAT’s history, academic development, and achievements in international cooperation. They also observed a high degree of alignment among the three institutions in terms of educational philosophy and development vision. The representatives stated that their universities look forward to taking the opportunity of joining the Silk Road International Alliance of Architectural and Technological Universities to deepen practical cooperation in talent cultivation, academic research, and other areas, and to further advance higher education exchanges between China and Croatia, generating more fruitful outcomes.
During their visit, the Croatian university leaders also toured XAUAT’s Architectural Heritage Corridor and the Yicheng Science and Technology Innovation Center.
