On the morning of Oct 21st, Zhejiang University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign signed agreement on the long-term intercollegiate cooperation at the signing ceremony of ZJU-ILLINOIS International Centre for BioEnergy in Run Run Shaw S&T building, Yuquan Campus.

Vice-President Jun Zhu, Zhejiang University and Vice-Chancellor Robert Easter, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign unveiled the plaque together. Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of Institute for Thermal Power Engineering of Zhejiang University Kefa Cen and Robert Easter signed the protocol on behalf of the two universities.

According to the agreement, ZJU and UIUC will cooperate in academic exchanges between teachers and students, academic visits, joint degree programs, international or bilateral academic conferences and research subject applications. The new ZJU-ILLINOIS International Centre for BioEnergy will provide a broad platform for the close cooperation in energy and environment, bioenergy and fuel, clean utilization of solar energy, hydrogen production from microorganism, waste utilization and pollutant control, clean utilization of bioenergy, clean coal combustion and CO₂ control etc, which is a bridge between two universities.

After the signing ceremony, Prof. Robert Easter introduced UIUC to the students of ZJU in the theater of Yuquan Campus.