In accordance with the *Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Chinese-Foreign Cooperative Education* and its implementation measures, the Ministry of Education recently evaluated the Chinese-foreign cooperative education institutions and programs applied for in the second half of 2025. Based on the results of expert evaluation, the master's degree education program in "Smart City Management" co-organized by our college and Flinders University, Australia was successfully approved.
The joint master's degree programs between Nankai University and Flinders University launched three majors in 2000, 2003, and 2011 respectively: International Economic and Trade Relations, Hospital Management, and Educational Leadership and Management. Up to now, 36 sessions, 33 sessions, and 16 sessions have been successfully held respectively, cultivating nearly 10,000 outstanding students.
Over the past 26 years, the program has established a complete management system for cooperative education and an innovative model of cooperative education between research universities. The standardized management and good program quality have continuously enhanced the social influence of the cooperative education programs between the two universities, which have been among the top in previous evaluations by the Ministry of Education and listed as benchmark programs by the Ministry of Education. Since its launch, the enrollment scale of the program has reached new heights, from 40 students in a single major initially to 570 students in three programs in 2012; in May 2025, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, the scale was further expanded to 750 students per year. The approval of the new "Smart City Management" major marks that the program has entered a new stage of development, with an annual total enrollment plan of 850 students, making it the largest cooperative education master's degree program in a single project in China.
Founded in 1966, Flinders University is located in Adelaide, South Australia, and is a member of the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) Australia. As one of Australia's top universities, Flinders University ranks among the top universities in Australia and around 300th in the world (2025 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings). It is a dynamic, modern, and progressive university. With the purpose of "inspiring achievement", the university is world-renowned for its excellent teaching and scientific research.
