ASME outreach to China takes shape with forum

Emily Smith
ASME NEWS

As part of its outreach efforts to the engineering community and industry in China, ASME organized the Engineering Management International Forum, which took place at the Tsinghua University's Dong Fang Hi-Tech Plaza Auditorium in April.

More than 200 participants from Chinese industry, government and academia attended the daylong event, where they learned about the benefits of ASME's Engineering Management and Engineering Management Certification program. During the forum, speakers explained how engineering management has contributed to the prosperity of technology-based corporations in the West, and how it can contribute to China's overall economic development.

Forum speakers also discussed the need to develop engineering management expertise and personnel in China. The forum was one of several activities designed to generate discussion about ways that ASME services can support China's economic development.

Forum speakers from the United States included ASME President Harry Armen, ASME Executive Director Virgil Carter, William Cousins, Sunil Gupta, Ronald Saporita, George Shinkle and Chor Tan.

Speakers from China included Lu Yansun, honorary chair of the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society; Li Jingwen, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Engineering; and Xu Haoqin of the China Association for International Exchange of Personnel (CAIEP). In addition, Chen Xianli, general manager of GE Healthcare in China, assessed the challenge of recruiting engineering management personnel for multinational corporations in China.

Among international guests who attended the Forum were Flavio Franco, England/Brazil; Igor Kok- charov, Russia/Switzerland; Vojislav Ilic, Australia, Nilufer Egrican, Turkey, Michael Kamal, Canada; Alex Chan, Hong Kong, and Hasan Sabri, Saudi Arabia.

In another meeting, the EMCI Presentation Session and Lecturers' Symposium, Chinese corporate, government and education leaders, and potential EMCI instructors discussed the marketing and operational issues of EMCI in China.

An additional meeting to discuss EMCI marketing and training in China was attended by about 20 people from corporations and academia, and local CAIEP representatives from various cities in China. Another 35 people, potential instructors interested in teaching EMCI courses, attended a second meeting concerning marketing and training.

Representatives of the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society and ASME also discussed organizing two more events in 2006 — a mechanical engineering education conference to be held in late March, and a conference on the commercialization of Micro-Nano-Technology, which would be held in the fall.

 

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