Dalian Maritime University in Northeast China's Liaoning province is home to a beacon of international cooperation.

The submarine engineering technology and equipment laboratory, which is dedicated to promoting exchange and finding answers to major technical problems, is the result of a collaboration between DMU and a number of other universities and maritime institutions from around the world, including the University of California, San Diego; the University of Houston; the National Technical University of Ukraine; the World Maritime University and the American Bureau of Shipping.

By sharing technology, talent and other resources, the partner institutes have carried out a dozen of State-level international technological cooperation projects and produced some world-leading technology and equipment, according to Sun Yuqing, president of DMU.

"The joint laboratory represents a higher level of cooperation, based on the exchange of students and teachers," he said.

"This is important because China is in a position of weakness amid the increasingly fierce competition for development of deep-sea resources."

DMU is one of the best maritime universities in the world, owning and operating two advanced oceangoing training vessels, each with a carrying capacity of more than 10,000 deadweight tons.

It is renowned internationally as a center of excellence for maritime education and training, and is recognized as such by the World Maritime Organization.

Sun said the university has focused on international cooperation in order to cultivate talent.

Compared with maritime universities in countries like the United States, DMU focuses more on academic and technological training instead of leadership, yet its alumni have still grown to become leading figures in their fields in shipping companies and institutions around the globe.

"On the campus, we help our students build their aspirations and give them the ability to fulfill their ambitions," Sun said.

DMU has established cooperative relations with more than 110 universities, shipping companies and maritime institutions in more than 30 countries and regions. "In addition to the exchange of students and teachers, we will set up more joint labs in the future," Sun said.

zhangxiaomin@chinadaily.com.cn