To promote the connotative development of higher education, meet the urgent needs of the national energy revolution for highly trained people, expand the opening up of higher education both internally and externally, and cultivate compound talents oriented to modernization. Established in 2002, International Education Institute (IEI) of North China Electric Power University (NCEPU), works together with International Cooperation Department (ICD) as one integrated office. Having been operated independently since 2012, IEI is responsible for the recruitment, teaching organization and student education management of the Confucius Institute, Chinese-foreign cooperative education projects, international students and foreign aid training projects. Based on the NCEPU’s goal of becoming “a high-level research-oriented university with distinctive characteristics” and facing the world, International Education Institute makes full use of excellent education and teaching resources at home and abroad to cultivate talents needed in the field of national energy and power.

International Education Institute undertakes the talent training tasks involving in the following three sections:

Section 1: The Chinese-foreign cooperative education projects. Since 2004, IEI has successfully carried out the undergraduate education project of Electrical Engineering and Its Automation, which is approved by the Ministry of Education and jointly organized by NCEPU, University of Strathclyde, and University of Manchester. By innovatively practicing the one-to-many partnership mode and vigorously introducing foreign high-quality education resources, the project aims at cultivating foreign-related senior professionals and industry elites with international vision and family-country emotion, innovative spirit and cross-cultural communication ability, systematic mastery of basic theory and modern power technology of Electrical Engineering and Its Automation, good scientific literacy and practical ability. In the cooperation in running a university during the past 14 years, by adhering to the concept and principle of “running a responsible university”, NCEPU has cultivated international talents in the field of energy and power, which are badly needed by society, and has produced good social reputation and international influence. As the partner, the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of University of Manchester won the “British-Greater China International Education Achievement Award 2015” for the project. The implementation of the project has also effectively promoted the cooperation between the NCEPU and British partner universities in undergraduate education and teaching, teacher training, joint scientific research, joint guidance of postgraduates and doctors, and greatly improved the implementation ability and level of the internationalization strategy of NCEPU. After studying in NCEPU for the first two years, students whose GPA and English level meet the admission requirements of University of Strathclyde or University of Manchester can go to the universities for exchange study through individual application and selection of NCEPU. After finishing the four-year study and passing the assessment of both sides, the students can obtain a bachelor’s degree from a foreign university and a bachelor’s degree from NCEPU (dual bachelor degree). Students who do not participate in the project can study in NCEPU for four years. After completing the study and passing the examination, they can obtain a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Its Automation from NCEPU.

Section 2: The education for international students in China. Since 2002, IEI has recruited and trained international students based on the NCEPU’s dominant disciplines, faculty, and teaching platform, to actively implement the national “Belt and Road” Initiative, and actively undertake national diplomatic tasks. In 2016, IEI obtained the certification of “The 2^nd Batch of Pilot Institutes for Quality Certification for Studying in China”. The international student training covers the training of undergraduates, postgraduates, doctors, advanced students and language students. It has formed a multi-category and multi-level comprehensive training system of Chinese government scholarship students, Confucius Institute scholarship students, school-enterprise cooperation students, inter-school cooperation students, self-sponsored students, and other aspects, which is mainly based on academic education and supplemented by long-term and short-term Chinese language training. In addition, combined with the advantages of NCEPU, IEI has vigorously carried out the teaching of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, environmental science and engineering in English, and deepened education reform. With its solid professional strength and increasing international influence year by year, NCEPU has attracted a large number of excellent foreign colleges and universities to establish strategic cooperation in talent cultivation and adopted the order type talent cultivation service mode with enrollment, cultivation and employment through the whole process. Now, there are more than 1100 enrolled international students studying in NCEPU. After graduation, some international students go to North China Electric Power University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Montreal and University of California, Berkeley for further study. Most of the other graduates who did not pursue further studies are working in power companies, energy enterprises and scientific research institutions in their respective countries. Some of them are working for the “Belt and Road” Initiative to build bridges of friendship between China and other countries.

Section 3: As one of the important windows of China’s foreign affairs, Confucius Institute targets at building a bridge connecting the hearts of people all over the world through promoting the Chinese language. It plays a very positive role in the friendly exchanges between people of all countries and the exchanges and understanding between different cultures and races. Also, it plays a unique role in telling Chinese stories, enhancing understanding, eliminating misunderstanding and resolving contradictions. Confucius Institute at Western Kentucky University, founded in April 2010, changed its name to Western Kentucky Confucius Institute (WKCI) in 2019. Jointly established by NCEPU, Simpson County Education Bureau in Kentucky and Chinese International Education Foundation, WKCI functions as the base to disseminate the Chinese language and culture. Since its inception, WKCI has made rapid growth and outstanding achievements. It has become one of the largest comprehensive Confucius Institutes in North America, and even in the whole world. In 2013 and 2015, WKCI gained the title of Global Demo of Confucius Institutes, which is much larger than the average Confucius Institutes. At present, WKCI has 38 Chinese teachers, 13 campuses, 22 Confucius Classrooms and 40 teaching points, registering nearly 20,000 Chinese-learning students.

North China Electric Power University welcomes talents from around the world to inherit a time-honoured legacy and lead the future of science and technology. This is the place where legends are nurtured and hope cultivated. International Education Institute is where dreams come true.