Organized by the Office of International Relations, Peking University, two professional staff from Australian National University undertook a staff exchange with Peking University during February and March. Among them, Mr. David Akers, General Manager of the College of Asia and the Pacific (CAP) at The Australian National University (ANU) spent three weeks in the College of Engineering (COE) and generated fruitful results. The staff exchange is the first of its kind in COE.

Mr. Akers is currently the general manager at CAP with responsibility for the management of the finance, research management, student administration, marketing and communications, alumni relations, HR, facilities and IT portfolios. During his exchange period, he carried out an overall administrative evaluation of the College of Engineering, with special attention to the Global Educational Exchange (Globex) Summer Program, a very innovative student exchange program in COE which started only two years ago but has made fast progress. He also communicated with the staff at COE who are in charge of technology transfer, media and communications, alumni relations and fund raising, and provided useful insights and expertise.

On March 31, Mr. Akers met with COE dean Dongxiao Zhang, deputy dean Steven Feng Chen, assistant dean Pingchou Han and Yongmei Li, and delivered a presentation about his work. He said he was very impressed by the Globex program, which has connected a great many universities in just two years, and facilitated a multi-facet communication among the faculty and students of the related institutions. He also offered seven suggestions which may help push the program forward and make its running more sustainable, high-quality and scientific. The COE administration expressed great interests in his report and had interactive discussions. Both parties agreed that this type of staff exchange is very useful and beneficial for mutual understanding and development.