On the afternoon of May 25, 2026, a delegation from Villa College (Maldives), consisting of Dr. Ali Najeeb, Vice Rector, Abdul Munnim Mohamed Manic, Deputy Vice Rector, and Ma Yuehan, Director of the Chinese Language Center (CLC), visited Shanghai Donghai College (SDC). Professor He Ying, President of SDC, met with the delegation and held a cooperation exchange meeting, where the two sides reached preliminary consensus on multi-field educational cooperation. Meng Zhaoshang, Director of the Office of International Exchange, Cui Hongjun, Dean of the School of Continuing Education, and Wang Xinkui, General Manager of Shanghai Fuya Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd. attended themeeting.
President He Ying extended a warm welcome to Vice Rector Ali Najeeb and his entourage, and briefly introduced the basic school-running situation and characteristic advantages of SDC through its promotional video. Dr. Ali Najeeb thanked the Chinese side for the warm and thoughtful reception, highly recognized SDC’s school-running strength and practical training conditions, and elaborated on the core advantages of Villa College. As the top private university in the Maldives and an affiliate of the Villa Group, Villa College provides education at all levels from high school to master’s degree with independent degree-granting authority. It has established in-depth cooperation with numerous international universities including the University of the West of England (UWE), and its flagship MBA program of the Business School ranks 150th in the QS World University Rankings. Vice Rector Najeeb expressed that Villa College is ready to cooperate with SDC in areas such as faculty and student exchanges and academic advancement, and welcomes SDC students to pursue further studies in the Maldives.
President He Ying noted that although the two colleges are separated by vast oceans, they share compatible educational philosophies and enjoy broad cooperation prospects. Going forward, the two sides can jointly advance faculty and student exchange programs and academic qualification improvement projects, carry out Chinese traditional cultural exchanges relying on the “Donghai Workshop” platform, and explore cooperation opportunities in characteristic fields such as low-altitude economy. After the meeting, President He Ying presented souvenirs with distinctive Chinese characteristics to the Villa College delegation.
Following the meeting, the delegation toured the SDC campus, student dormitories, as well as the practical training bases of the School of Aeronautics and the School of Nursing. Zhou Menghua, Dean of the School of Aviation, and Zhang Meiqin, Dean of the School of Nursing, accompanied the visit and introduced the relevant teaching and practical training facilities respectively. The Maldivian side spoke highly of SDC’s well-equipped teaching facilities, and held an in-depth discussion with Dean Zhang Meiqin and faculty and student representatives of the School of Nursing on topics including academic planning, further education development and overseas study opportunities.
This visit has built a solid cooperation bridge between the two universities. In the future, both sides will gradually implement all the consensus reached, promote the sharing of international educational resources, and jointly cultivate high-quality technical and skilled talents with an international vision. (Correspondent: Liu Yichen)
