In order to cooperate with the national Belt and Road initiative and Double First Class construction and cultivate international software talents, Software College has vigorously carried out the training of international students and actively applied for the Silk Road Chinese Government Scholarship Program of the Ministry of Education for the 2021-2022 academic year.

This application includes two parts: the summary report of approved projects and the application form for the 2021-2022 academic year. Combining the actual situation of the project and the application experience in previous years, Software College started the application work in December 2020. After internal discussions and talks with Neusoft, the two parties jointly formulated a cooperation plan for 2021 and completed the application of Northeastern University-Neusoft Belt and Road National International Software Talent Joint Training Project.

The training level of international students in this program includes master's degree and doctoral degree, and the target countries include Pakistan, Yemen, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Belarus, Poland and so on. After completing the one-year course, the postgraduate students will participate in the 6-month advanced project practice in Neusoft to improve their software development and project management ability in real enterprise environment, real development projects, real system requirements and real project experience. The doctoral students of the project are required to complete the scientific research tasks in the doctoral stage under the guidance of the supervisor, and learn the courses except politics and the two compulsory courses Chinese and Chinese Culture according to the training plan for doctoral students of software engineering major, so as to further cultivate their understanding and love for China and Chinese culture.

This year is the fifth year that Software College has continuously applied for the Silk Road Chinese Government Scholarship Program. In 2017, the China Scholarship Council for the first time launched the Silk Road Chinese Government Scholarship Program, and Software College actively organized applications. Relying on the college’s full English training program for master’s students established in 2013, Software College successfully won 30 scholarships and became the only college in Northeastern University that got approved in this project. After 4 years of practice, the project has been unanimously recognized by all sectors of the society, and won the “Silk Road” Chinese Government Scholarship Excellent Project in the 2019-2020 academic year (only 31 projects across the country won this title); in 2019, in the selection of the “Belt and Road” excellent construction projects among universities in Shenyang, the Northeastern University-Neusoft’s “Belt and Road” National International Software Talent Joint Training Project was successfully selected as a “Demonstration Project” (a total of 13 projects in Shenyang were awarded this honor).

The Silk Road Chinese Government Scholarship Program is an important support for Software College to carry out international student training and international education. Through this project, the college has cultivated a large number of international software talents that meet the demand of enterprises and industries for countries along the “Belt and Road”. Taking international students as a bridge, the college promotes communication and exchanges between Northeastern University and universities and institutions in the “Belt and Road” countries, and expands scientific research cooperation. Improving the level of research and assisting the construction of the first-class university will have a positive impact on serving the country's Belt and Road strategy.