- Automotive supplier funds key research area in the field of car chassis technology and dynamics
- Company’s first endowed chair at a university out of Germany
ZF Friedrichshafen AG is extending its involvement in higher education to include China: The automotive supplier is providing funding over a period of five years for the Stiftungslehrstuhl für Fahrwerktechnik und Fahrdynamik (Endowed Chair for Passenger Car Chassis Technology and Dynamics) at the Sino-German School for Postgraduate Studies (CDHK) of the renowned Tongji University in Shanghai.
Professor Dr. YU Zhuoping, who is also the Dean of the School of Automotive Studies at Tongji University, was appointed as leading professor of the new Chair. “We are delighted to have Professor Yu onboard with us – an acknowledged expert in the Chinese automotive industry,” said Jürgen Holeksa, Member of the Board of Management of ZF Friedrichshafen AG, responsible for Corporate Human Resources, during the signing of the endowment agreement in Shanghai on Monday. “With our endowment we are strongly supporting the tradition of Sino-German collaboration, which has characterized the excellent work of the CDHK of Tongji University since its foundation.”
China is an important market for the automotive industry – a market that is also becoming increasingly important to ZF. The Group has continually grown market shares in the country over the past few years. “In order to further consolidate and expand our position in China,” said Dr. YE Guohong, President of ZF (China) Investment Co. Ltd., “we also need qualified junior staff that will discover ZF as an attractive employer and develop forward-looking solutions for us.”
ZF is endowing a professorship at a foreign university for the first time with the Chair at the CDHK of Tongji University. The company has financed several chairs at universities in Germany in the past. Nonetheless, ZF is not dark horse at Tongji University since the Group has already been sponsoring the TJU Racing Team in the Formula Student competition. “Thanks to the endowment, students will now also benefit directly from ZF funding during their courses at the university,” stressed Jürgen Holeksa, Member of the ZF Board of Management.
Funding has initially been earmarked for five years. The collaboration that is now underway between ZF and the CDHK will be expanded gradually until August 2017, on the basis of joint research projects, international internships etc.
