On the afternoon of May 20, Vice President of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia Professor James Calvin and his party visited XJTU. Vice President Lu Tianjian met with the visiting guests in room 107 of the Science Hall, and gave them an introduction to XJTU westward movement history, the current campus constructions and the number of students, faculty members and staff members, etc. Vice President Calvin said that, as a newly founded university with a long term vision, KAUST hoped to build cooperative relationships with universities around the world. The two parties joined in expressing their mutual commitment to further cooperation and exchange.

Following the initial meeting, Vice President Calvin and members of his delegation gave a series of presentations on KAUST. They gave an introduction to its approaches to teaching, faculty members, facilities, curricula, enrollment requirements and financial support for students of KAUST. Professors Christian Voolstra and Xixiang Zhang then presented some of the results of their own research. XJTU students listened with interest to the presentations and afterward, exchanged ideas with the professors.