The Shanghai Conservatory of Music received a total of 620 overseas guests last year. It was announced at a meeting held on December 28 to summarize the achievements made by the conservatory in foreign exchanges and international education last year.

These overseas guests included students, teachers, musicians and scholars from 30 countries and regions. Last year, 63 batches, totaling 261 delegates from the SHCM, visited 22 countries and regions. The conservatory received 136 foreign exchange students from 33 countries, up 19 percent from a year earlier.

The SHCM recruited 29 long-term foreign experts specializing in piano, composition, conductor, vocal music, flute and other majors last year. German professor Reinhard Bahr obtained a Chinese work visa at the consulate-general of China in Hamburg. The SHCM also recruited other foreign experts, including Professor Yang Wen Sinn, Prof. Wolfgang Mastnak and Prof. Andrei Ivanovich.

Klaudiusz Baran, president of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Poland, visited the SHCM as a guest professor.

The SHCM joined hands with the Xi’an Conservatory of Music to hold the 3rd President Forum of the Music Institutes of the Silk Road.

The conservatory also signed strategic cooperation agreements with nine international music institutes to strengthen ties and promote exchanges. Altogether 345 SHCM students participated in exchange programs in foreign countries last year.

Besides, the international education institute and the international chamber music center were established by the SHCM to enhance management of the exchange and enrollment of foreign students.