Eurocopter signed a cooperation agreement with China’s Tongji University that integrates this Shanghai-based educational institute into the company’s family of partner universities, with the goal of training future technicians and engineers in helicopter technology and reinforcing the international exchange in research and development. Tongji University becomes the first in Asia to join Eurocopter’s family of partner universities, which was established in 2008 to create a pool of aeronautical competence for the future of the rotary-wing aircraft industry.

Eurocopter and Tongji University will establish a helicopter training program that brings specialized visiting professors to Shanghai for lectures, and will offer internships in the company’s different facilities in China and abroad. Additionally, scholarships are to be provided for highly motivated students, and career opportunities will be offered as part of Eurocopter’s successful policy of working locally and internationally.

For the past 40 years of its presence in China, Eurocopter has trained hundreds of highly skilled rotary-wing specialists through various cooperation programs with its Chinese partners. This activity includes licensed production of the Dauphin helicopter in the 1980s, co-production of EC120/HC120s in the 1990s, and today’s 50/50 co-development of the EC175/Z15 helicopter.

The first joint effort of this new cooperation will be an “Eco-Design” seminar organized during October in Shanghai, continuing Eurocopter’s emphasis on the environment as the centerpiece of its innovation strategy. This meeting will underscore the importance of eco-efficient design in the helicopter industry, and will include participants from all of Eurocopter’s partner universities.