Recently, the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs and the Ministry of Education jointly issuedanoticetoapprove 25 domestic colleges and universities to be included in the "Overseas Expertise Introduction Project for Discipline Innovation" (known as the"111 Project") of 2018,targeted at domestic colleges and universities.Specifically, our project, the "Overseas Expertise Introduction Center for Discipline Innovationon Resource Cultivation and Efficient Utilization of Subtropical Forest",was selected. This is the firstoverseas expertise introduction center for discipline innovationforour university.

The "Overseas Expertise Introduction Center for Discipline Innovationon Resource Cultivation and Efficient Utilization of Subtropical Forest" projectaddresses the scientific problemsinvolved in managingsubtropical forests, such as low resource quality, inefficient utilization and weak ecological function;thus,talented scientific members cooperate withforeign academic masters, such as the academiciansfrom theAustralian Academy of Science and International Academy of Wood Science, to set up aSino-foreign cooperative team on scientific innovation by virtue of platforms including the National Key Laboratory of Subtropical Forest Cultivation(co-sponsored by the province and ministry),the National Engineering and Technology Research Center of Wood-based Resources Comprehensive Utilization, the State-Province Joint Engineering Laboratory onEfficient Biological Pesticide Products and Technology, the Key Laboratory of Bamboo Science and Technology under the Ministry of Education, and the Laboratory of Fixed Carbon and Reducing Discharge of the Forest Ecosystem in Zhejiang Province. Specifically, the teamstrivesto cultivate quality trees, improve forest quality, develop new materials and products with high added values, and enhance the function of carbon sinksin the ecosystemintheefficient cultivation of forest resources, value-added utilization and optimization of forest ecosystem functions. In this way, the cultivation and efficient utilization of subtropical forest resources canfinallyberealized.

The approval ofthe"Overseas Expertise Introduction Center for Discipline Innovationon Resource Cultivation and Efficient Utilization of Subtropical Forest"representsamajor breakthrough in the first-class discipline construction and the national-level innovation platform of our university, and also signifiesachievementsin the international development of discipline construction. In the future, through cooperation on research, the innovative ability of disciplines will be considerably enhanced.Thanks to this,a number of remarkable international-level achievements with significant international influence willcertainlybe accomplished, further improving the international competitiveness of the disciplines, the overall school-running level andtheinternational status of our university. Such moves will promote the first-class discipline construction in our university, providing strong support and guarantee for the rapid development of the forest industry in our province and even the whole country.

The"111 Project" aims to promotethebuildingofworld-class universities in China. Jointly implemented by the Ministry of Education and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, the project aims to bring in and attract more than 1,000 outstanding talents from the top 100 universities and research institutes in the world in terms of national key disciplines by focusing oncutting-edgeinternational discipline development, thus forming a high-level research team and building around 100 world-classoverseas expertise introduction centersfor discipline innovation.