On September 11, Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property (SICIP) held the orientation ceremony for all the 2019 master degree and doctoral candidates from 11 countries. It is also the opening ceremony of 3^rd Edition of the WIPO-Tongji MIP in Design (WIPO Program) and the Belt and Road MIP (B&R Program). Mr. Joe Bradley, Head of the Academic Institutions Program of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Academy, Ms. Ying Wang, Director of Division Two of the International Cooperation Department of China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), Mr. Hui Yang, Deputy Director of Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration (SIPA) and Prof. Guoqiang Lyu, Senior Consultant of WIPO in China, as well as Prof. Xiaoguang Shan, Dean of the SICIP, Prof. Xuezhong Zhu and Prof. Xinmiao Yu, Deputy Dean of the SICIP, Prof. Nan Jiang, Deputy CPC Secretary of the SICIP, and other staff of the SICIP attended the ceremony presided over by Prof. Xiaoting Song, Chairman of the SICIP College Council.

Mr. Bradley reviewed the long-term cooperation between WIPO and Tongji University, and fully affirmed the achievements of the WIPO-Tongji MIP Program. Ms. Wang, on the Behalf of the CNIPA, sincerely appreciated to Tongji university’s contribution to the both international master programs. In his welcome speech, Mr. Yang, on the Behalf of Shanghai Municipality Government, affirmed the experience gained by the SICIP for international IP education and research after its establishment in 2016. Prof. Xinghui Lei, Vice President of Tongji University, in his letter of congratulation, expected that all the students of SICIP could try their best to apply the knowledge into solving the IP issues, contribute to the IP development in China, in home countries of international students as well as in the whole world.

At the end, Prof. Peter-Christian Mueller-Graff from Heidelberg University, as lecturer of international master programs, Ms. Fan Li and Ms. Lucinda Browne, as student of the WIPO Program and Mr. Alexander Baranchikov, as student of B&R Program, expressed the gratitude for the efforts of the SICIP and shared the experience of teaching and learning at the college.

Tongji University is the unique partner of the WIPO in China (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) for IP Master Degree Program. As one of the funding members of the WINIPe (WIPO International Network for Intellectual Property Education), the SICIP put great efforts to develop a world-class platform of IP education and research. We warmly welcome all the national and international applicants for master and doctoral programs to join us, to work with us in the future. As Prof. Li Jiang said in the 2019 Orientation Ceremony, “SICIP is a truly diverse global community. And as of today, this community is yours and you are SICIP.”