A seminar on IP talent training and discipline development in colleges and universities throughout China is held at Tongji University. [Photo/WeChat account: Shanghai_IPA]

A seminar on intellectual property talent training and discipline development in colleges and universities throughout China, organized by Tongji University, was recently held at the university in East China's Shanghai.

At the seminar, 16 universities and colleges from across the country jointly established an IP discipline alliance to explore new approaches to IP discipline reform and personnel training.

Fang Shouen, Party secretary of Tongji University, said that colleges and universities should take full advantage of their strength in teaching and scientific research to cultivate high-end IP talent and provide more powerful intellectual support for the development of IP in China.

Over the course of years, China has gradually formed a multi-level IP talent training system for undergraduates, masters, and doctors. By the end of last year, more than 50 IP institutes had been set up nationwide, and a comprehensive IP talent education model had been established.

In 2016, with the support of the World Intellectual Property Organization and the China National Intellectual Property Administration, the Shanghai government established the Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property based on the IP institute of Tongji University.

To date, the college has undertaken two international programs – the WIPO-Tongji Master Degree Program in IP Law, and the Chinese Government Intellectual Property Scholarship Program jointly entrusted by the CNIPA and the Ministry of Education.

Rui Wenbiao, director general of the Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration, also attended the seminar. He expressed high hope for the long-term development of the discipline alliance.