On the morning of December 16, the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, Professor Michael Hoey, visited XJTU. Vice-presidents Song Xiaoping and Cheng Guangxu met with the visiting guest in the meeting room of the Main Building and discussed areas of collaboration.

Vice President Song reviewed the achievements of the most recent period of cooperation between the two universities in research and undergraduate education, and he outlined the progress being made in the construction of the teachers' development center at XJTU. Pro Vice-Chancellor Hoey said he hoped that the cooperation between the two universities could be expanded to include the joint training of doctoral students. He added that the University of Liverpool would make every effort to contribute to and support to the program of teacher training center. The parties also discussed a number of issues including possibilities for the two universities to develop new cooperative research programs, and joint training programs for students and teachers.

In the afternoon, Professor Hoey, who is a distinguished linguist, delivered a lecture entitled "How A Right Knowledge of Chinese Might Be Used to Help in the Learning of English (and A Wrong Knowledge Won't Help At All)" to the teachers and students of the School of Foreign Language.