On November 17, at the behest of President Zheng Nanning, the XJTU's assistant president Gong Hui attended the presentation ceremony of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona's "ORTELIUS Program." He also participated in a work meeting related to the program, and signed the program protocol on behalf of XJTU. The event was held in Barcelona, Spain.

Among those participating in the ceremony were Mr. José Antonio Villasante, the president of the Santander Bank, which is one of the sponsors of the program; Mr. Artur Masthe, the chairman of the Spanish region of Catalonia, and Ms. Ana Ripoll, the president of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona made a speech. They jointly emphasized that in the course of global economic integration, universities play an integral role. Assistant president Gong Hui signed the program protocol as the first representative of Asian universities. After the ceremony, assistant president Gong Hui and the president of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Ms. Ana Ripoll exchanged gifts.