On Sep 17th, the teach-in of the 1st SIFT Logistics Design Contest and the 2nd National College Students Logistics Design Selection was held in Room 526, Information Building. Nie Qing, Dean of International Business School, Yang Xiao'yan, Director of Logistics Management, and Yuan Qingda, a teacher of logistics were present. Nie Qing delivered a speech to express her wishes for success of the 1st SIFT Logistics Design Contest. A representative of the organizing committee made an introduction to the process of the contest. The two teachers, Yang Xiao'yan and Yuan Qing'da, gave students the essential background knowledge with case analysis, in order to help them better prepare for the Contest. Shi Jie, the third prize winner of the 1st National College Students Logistics Design Contest and a 2008 graduate of SIFT, recalled his own experience and shared with the students what he got from the Contest. The Contest is jointly hosted by Student Union of International Business School and PDP Corporation. They intend to popularize knowledge of logistics, to explore the importance of logistics to enterprises, to improve the practicing, planning and organizing skills of SIFT students, and to select and send outstanding students for the 2nd National College Students Logistics Design Contest. Our students gave an enthusiastic response to it. Up till now, over 200 students, from International Business School, Finance School and Management School, have entered for the Contest. （Translated by Liu Menglin）

On September 11, Lu Xiankun, counselor and head of division in Chinese Embassy to WTO, and a SIFT 1989 alumnus, was invited by School of WTO Research and Education to deliver a lecture in his alma mater. The lecture, entitled "The Progress and Prospects of WTO Doha Round negotiations and China’s Role", was delivered to all SIFT postgraduate students. Before the lecture, Professor Ye Xingguo, vice president of SIFT, met with Mr. Lu in the VIP room. Professor Ye praised and congratulated Lu for contributing to China’s WTO negotiations and for bringing to his alma mater a great honor. Lu said that he was thankful for the education he received at SIFT and hoped that he will have the opportunity to do more for his alma mater in the future. Counselor. Lu’s lecture began at 3 pm in Lecture Hall 530, Information Building. The lecture was chaired by Zhang Lei, dean of School of WTO Research and Education, and was attended by over one hundred postgraduate students and teachers. After recalling the Ministerial Conference in Geneva through vivid pictures, Counselor Lu talked about the nature of WTO negotiations, and the origin, status quo, latest progress and prospects of Doha negotiations. He also discussed China’s role in the negotiations. The lecture was successfully concluded with a lively and thought-provoking question-answer session. At the end of the lecture, Counselor Lu encouraged SIFT students to cherish their time at SIFT, find their proper positions in China’s foreign trade and make contributions to their country. Counselor Lu graduated from SIFT’s Foreign Languages School in 1993. He was warmly received by the current leaders of the School and shared his experiences and insights during a talk with the School’s undergraduates. (Translated by Liu Menglin)

SIFT-- UCLAN joint program was awarded PMI2 “Partnerships in Employability and Entrepreneurship” funding in March. The program is to last for two years. Both SIFT and UCLAN have established their program teams. Lou Wei, deputy party secretary and vice president of SIFT, serves as a senior consultant of the program. The SIFT team is composed of members from The Post-Degree Training Base--Wang Xingsun, Ruan Xiao, Lin Xing, Xu chaoyi, and those from China-UK cooperative project--Chen Jie, Zou Nan’nan, as well as Xu Dongfeng from The International Exchange Office and Yu Zheng from Students’ Administration. “Prime Minister Initiative”(PMI) was launched by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a move of the government to adjust to the requirements of the new situation resulted from educational globalization. Any UK university with a joint program with a foreign university can apply for PMI funding. The application of the joint program should be in the name of the UK University. Programs applying for the Initiative will be examined by experts hired by the British Council. Applicants face substantial competition since there is a great number of applications for the funding. In recognition of the rapid development of global economy and advanced education, the program aims to explore and create practical models of employability of college students by means of exchanging the knowledge and experience concerning re-employment and entrepreneurship. The models are then expected to guide the course design and syllabus improvement, so as to infiltrate the teaching process with a proper awareness of employability and entrepreneurship and to facilitate the education and cooperation of other higher institutions and joint programs. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　(Translated by Tang Wei)