From June 20 to 21, a delegation from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) led by Executive Vice President Chris Heavey visited Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). SYSU Executive Vice President Xiao Haipeng met with the guests in the VIP room of Zhongshan Building on Guangzhou South Campus. Representatives from the Department of Chinese, School of Art, School of Tourism Management, and Office of International Cooperation & Exchange attended the meeting.

Group photo
Executive Vice President Xiao Haipeng extended a warm welcome to the guests and introduced SYSU's campuses, disciplines, development focus, collaborations with the U.S., and also the work on international Chinese education. He emphasized that after the preliminary contact, the two universities have reached a cooperation intention in the fields of international Chinese education, tourism and hotel management, etc. He hoped that after this meeting the two sides would establish a cooperation framework at the university level and implement practical collaborations, so that the two universities can complement each other's advantages and develop together.
Executive Vice President Chris Heavey expressed his gratitude for the hospitality of SYSU and shared the basic information of UNLV. He said that UNLV is a university that strongly reflects the characters of the city, with significant strengths in the arts and sports, and the discipline of hospitality management is ranked first in the U.S.. UNLV is now actively upgrading its international Chinese education and plans to establish a specialized unit for this purpose. With good prospects for cooperation in the above-mentioned fields, he hoped that both sides will strengthen the ties and achieve practical collaborations.
The delegation visited the School of Tourism Management on Zhuhai Campus. They were briefed on the school's operation and important research teams, and discussed the cooperation potentials in talent training and scientific research with the school.
The delegation also had a meeting with representatives from the Department of Chinese, School of Foreign Languages, School of Art, and School of International Studies. They discussed about the details of cooperation on international Chinese education and agreed that the two universities would first deepen mutual understanding through faculty and student exchanges to achieve complementary resources; then jointly establish a specialized unit. After the meeting, they visited the Global Chinese Teaching Material Development and Training Center, and observed a Chinese folk music course at the School of Art.
In addition, the delegation visited the Primary School Attached to SYSU to observe a Dragon Boat Festival themed class activity and a traditional Chinese art lesson.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is a public comprehensive research university founded in 1957. UNLV’s Hospitality Management is ranked nationally No. 1 and globally No. 2, according to the QS World University Rankings 2023.