Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle University Alliance was established in Chengdu on May 12. The teachers of the alliance members can be shared and co-hired. They can give lectures and instruct students in different universities in the two regions. Meanwhile, they will also promote communications and training among member universities and explore the recognition mechanism of credit transfer.

The alliance consists of 20 universities, including 12 in Sichuan such as Sichuan University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Southwest Jiaotong University and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, and eight in Chongqing such as Chongqing University and Southwest University.

According to the establishment declaration, the alliance pledged to promote friendly cooperation among the member universities in personnel training, scientific researches, social services, cultural inheritance and innovation, and international exchanges and cooperation, so as to provide scientific and technological support and intellectual support for the development of Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle.

It will speed up the construction of disciplines that align the development of traditional advantageous industries and strategic emerging industries in Chengdu and Chongqing, vigorously develop undergraduate program clusters including new engineering, new medical science, new agricultural science, and new liberal arts, and keep optimizing the first-class discipline systems. It will also promote the flow of talented people and the joint construction and sharing of science and education resources, and strive to build an innovative community of science and education in Chengdu and Chongqing.

The alliance will focus on scientific research cooperation. The member universities will strengthen the joint construction of the public innovation platform, promote the collaborative research of humanities and social sciences, jointly implement the Bashu cultural revitalization project, build a joint Chengdu-Chongqing inter-regional university laboratory, integrate and attract scientific and technological resources, especially scientific and technological talent, build a collaborative innovation system for universities located in the economic circle, and enhance the capacity of collaborative innovation and development.

"Member universities will open to each other advantageous research platforms such as state key laboratories and key laboratories at the provincial and ministerial levels," said Zhang Zongyi, President of Chongqing University. Member universities will establish mechanisms for scientific research exchanges and cooperation and joint scientific and technological efforts, jointly apply for and undertake major national scientific research projects or international scientific and technological cooperation projects, and establish an industrial alliance for technological innovation. Meanwhile, they will establish a coordinated mechanism for the transfer of technology achievements, set up a technology transfer alliance, jointly guide the free flow of technological factors on markets, and jointly hold various high-end academic forums.

In international exchanges and cooperation, the alliance will regularly hold Western China International Education and Science and Technology Forum to build an international brand for higher education and science and technology cooperation and exchanges in the western region and facilitate the cooperation between member universities and internationally renowned universities in running schools.