Pierre BALADI takes office as ParisTech Representative in Asia!

The ParisTech network has been present in China, and more specifically in Shanghai, since 2004. Its Representative is committed to developing and consolidating the academic and scientific network in China. The network currently has 14 partners in the country. Over the years, close relationships have been forged with each university, and hundreds of Chinese students have come to ParisTech schools for both engineering and PhD studies.

Pierre Baladi's mission will be to consolidate these partnerships, develop relations with companies and support alumni in their actions. He will coordinate ParisTech's flagship programs, such as the ParisTech International Admission Program for students in Asia and the two scholarship programs with the China Scholarship Council. He will also support the schools in the academic mobility of their students in engineering in China, and more broadly in Asia.

Indeed, as Pierre Baladi points out, "one of the major challenges of this position is to develop ParisTech's reputation in Asia and extend its actions to other Asian countries and territories. We must continue to develop networks, partnerships and communication with other universities, institutions and all local players (ministries of education in the various countries, French consulates, French embassies, etc.)".

Pierre Baladi is no stranger to the ParisTech network. Himself an engineer by training, having graduated from the École des Mines de Nantes (now IMT Atlantique), he has already had the opportunity to spend time in Asia. His first experience, an academic one, enabled him to spend a semester at the National University of Singapore. He then had the opportunity to take on a scientific and academic mission as part of a Volontariat International en Administration (VIA) program at the French Consulate General in Hong Kong. Upon returning to France, he chose to explore deeper the field of international cooperation in higher education, first working for almost ten years in the Office of International Relations at Mines Paris, where he had the opportunity, among other things, to develop strong partnerships with Japanese universities and participate in a ParisTech mission to Korea, which led to the signature of several partnership agreements that were recently renewed. Then in 2017, he became Head of International Relations at the Institut d'Optique, where he was keen to develop international opportunities for engineering students. Pierre Baladi is therefore already a key player in the ParisTech network, which he knows very well, and will be able to promote the engineering training model offered by the schools: high-level, research-backed, international education.