In March, 105 Italian students — including undergraduates, postgraduates, and doctoral candidates — from 17 prestigious Italian universities visited China. The closing ceremony of the exchange program took place on March 30 at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE).
During their journey, the students spent five days in Beijing exploring China's advancements in technological innovation, cultural heritage, and eco-friendly development. They were accompanied by Chinese students majoring in Italian at UIBE, with whom they formed meaningful and lasting friendships.
The exchange marks the first program launched under the initiative proposed last year, which aims to double the number of European youth participating in Sino-European exchange programs.
"Today's world is presenting questions for young people to answer," said Zhou Li, deputy director-general of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges at China's Ministry of Education. "And real cases of collaboration between China and Italy may well offer part of the answer: to tackle global challenges, what we need is not isolated heroes, but a structure like the foundation of the Leaning Tower of Pisa — interlocked layer by layer. Each stone retains its unique texture, yet together they support a height that transcends any single piece."
