On December 16, a delegation from France's University de Valenciennes, headed by its vice president Abdelhakim Artiba, visited XJTU, and met with XJTU Vice President SONG Xiaoping in room 107 of the Science Hall, where they discussed cooperation between the two universities. The director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, Ms. LIANG Li, the executive dean of the School of Management, Prof. HUANG Wei, and Professor ZHOU Zhili of the School of Management attended the meeting.

Vice President SONG welcomed Vice President Abdelhakim Artiba and presented a brief introduction to XJTU's history and programs, and to the recently-formed group of elite universities named C9 of which XJTU is a member. Vice President SONG Xiaoping said that XJTU had a great interest in cooperation with the universities around the world. Vice President Abdelhakim Artiba said that his university was also interested in that.

Vice President SONG added that the Business School of the University of Valenciennes is very strong in both research and teaching, and XJTU sees this as a beginning of cooperative relationships which could be expanded to other programs in the future. Executive Dean HUANG gave a brief presentation on the XJTU School of Management, and said that he hoped to develop a cooperative relationship with the University of Valenciennes in the areas of research and graduate education. After the meeting, Vice President Abdelhakim Artiba and his party visited the School of Management.