On the morning of September 29, 2025, Northeast Forestry University (NEFU) and the University of Auckland (UOA) held the 2025 Joint Management Committee (JMC) Meeting for their Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education Institution - Aulin College, via an online format. NEFU’s President Song Wenlong, UOA’s Vice President and Professor Erik Lithander, and members of the JMC, along with relevant heads of the academic management departments, attended the meeting.

In his speech, President Song Wenlong fully recognized the significant achievements of Aulin College since its establishment, particularly in talent cultivation, discipline development, and international cooperation. He emphasized that NEFU attaches great importance to the development of Aulin College. The university has frequently reported to the Ministry of Education on key issues such as optimizing NEFU’s educational model and expanding its scale, and has received positive feedback and strong support from the academic authorities, which will lay a solid policy foundation for the college’s next phase of high-quality development.

President Song Wenlong proposed that NEFU, together with UOA, leverage the policy advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port and the international education innovation environment to explore new paths for comprehensive collaborative development, including joint course building, faculty exchanges, and research cooperation, aiming to make NEFU’s Hainan International College a model for Sino-Foreign cooperative education.

The meeting heard a comprehensive report from Dean Liu Zhiming of NEFU’s Aulin College on the 2025 enrollment, academic operations, student development, and graduate outcomes. In 2025, NEFU’s Aulin College achieved a 100% completion rate for its enrollment plan, with a 95.4% new student registration rate. The overall quality of the student body has steadily improved, and the rate of graduates pursuing further studies abroad and their employment rate remain high, showing continued positive outcomes in education.

Regarding plans for future cooperation, the meeting focused on expanding cooperation, with NEFU’s Hainan International College as the primary platform for a new round of larger-scale, deeper Sino-Foreign education cooperation.

Professor Erik Lithander, Vice President of UOA, expressed high praise for the strong cooperative foundation and the achievements made so far. He conveyed confidence and high expectations for expanding the scale of education and deepening the strategic partnership, with NEFU’s Hainan International College as a pivotal piece for future collaboration.