On July 5, 2021, Mexican student Miss Paulina Rodriguez Fiscal successfully defended her master's thesis at the University of Mons in Belgium. The thesis titled 'Smart cities‘strategies to ameliorate environmental impacts of rapid urbanization in Beijing, China' was jointly supervised by Associate Professor Zhang Xiaoyan and Professor Zuo Jianping from School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering at China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing, and Professor Sesil from University of Mons, Belgium. Miss Paulina Rodriguez Fiscal is the first graduate of the joint master's degree program "Smart Cities and Communities" between our university and University of Mons, Belgium.

Paulina's master's thesis delved into the environmental issues arising from rapid urbanization in China, and she successfully published one SCI paper based on her research.

Associate Professor Zhang Xiaoyan and Professor Zuo Jianping participated online in Paulina's master's thesis defense at University of Mons. They engaged in discussions and exchanges with other defense committee members regarding Paulina's thesis. Additionally, they briefly introduced the development and research situation of School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering. During the defense process, the committee members not only deeply discussed research in the field of "Smart Cities" but also reached consensus on topics such as joint graduate training and research collaboration. Their goal is to promote more extensive cooperation in the future for the joint master's degree program "Smart Cities and Communities".

In February 2017, University of Mons in Belgium, through our International Cooperation and Exchange Office, invited relevant disciplines to jointly develop a 2-year joint master's degree program titled "Smart Cities and Communities (SMACCs; http://www.smaccs.eu)." The program received approval under the European Commission’s 2017 Erasmus+ project. The Erasmus Mundus project is a globally recognized scholarship program funded by the EU in the field of higher education, aimed at providing opportunities for European higher education worldwide. The joint master's degree program "Smart Cities and Communities" officially started enrollment in 2019. In the fall of 2019, 24 students from around the world joined this joint master's training program. Mexican student Paulina showed great interest in the training program offered by School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering at China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing and expressed a strong desire to have the opportunity to intern in Beijing. Professors from CUMTB were invited to collaborate remotely with Professor Sesil Koutra from University of Mons, Belgium, to jointly supervise student Paulina.