On the morning of May 14, Cuban Deputy Minister of Higher Education Reynaldo Velázquez Zaldívar led a three-member delegation to visit SCMU. University Party Committee Secretary Xu Yeqin and Party Committee Standing Committee Member and Vice President Fang Debin met with the visitors at the Academic Exchange Center for discussions. Leaders from the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, School of Literature, Journalism and Communication, School of Ethnology and Sociology, and School of Pharmacy attended the meeting.
Cuban Deputy Minister of Higher Education Velázquez visits SCMU.
Photo courtesy of the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange
Xu Yeqin extended a warm welcome to Deputy Minister Velázquez and his delegation, introducing the university’s history, development philosophy, and distinctive strengths. He noted that China and Cuba have established multi-faceted, multi-level cooperation in education and proposed collaboration in five areas: Confucius Institute development, joint research, talent cultivation, faculty exchanges, and cultural and artistic exchange.
Velázquez outlined Cuba’s current higher education landscape, expressing that the university’s proposed five areas of cooperation align with China-Cuba educational cooperation goals and meet Cuban universities’ development needs. He noted that Cuba currently has only one Confucius Institute and welcomed South-Central Minzu University’s participation in Chinese language instruction and Chinese cultural exchange activities in Cuba. He also invited the university to participate in the International Education Conference to be held in Cuba in February 2026.
Both sides reached consensus on collaboration in biomedicine, Chinese language education, and the arts, establishing communication mechanisms. Following the meeting, the delegation visited the Ethnology Museum and the National Demonstration Center for Experimental Teaching in Ethnic Pharmacy.
The delegation will attend the World Conference on Digital Education being held in Wuhan.
