Editor's Note: China Daily is publishing a series of reports on universities jointly established by education institutions from China and overseas. As the colleges get busy with recruitment, our reporters visited them to talk with principals, teachers and students.

Foreign guests visit Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, on July 26, as the school celebrates its 10-year anniversary. Provided to CHINA DAILY

What makes reform extraordinary is the opportunity it gives to some individuals－so long as they keep experimenting and thinking hard.

That is the message of Xi Youmin, executive president of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, one of the few Chinese-foreign joint-venture universities, which is beginning to be recognized around the world.

"Our first goal was to get known in 10 years," Xi told China Daily. "Our second goal is to achieve international fame in 100 years."

Founded in 2006, the university is a partnership between Xi'an Jiaotong University and the University of Liverpool. It is based in Suzhou, one of China's most affluent cities.

"I took the first national college entrance examination when the system was restored after the end of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

"That enabled me to become one of the first group of Chinese students to major in management," Xi said.

And ever since, being a good manager of education has been his passion.

When the government allowed international cooperation at the college-level, the university decided not to be an alsoran.

"Most of the joint ventures are teaching centers in China for overseas universities, placed within some Chinese colleges," Xi said.

Next are the overseas universities' branch campuses.

"But what we wanted, from the very beginning, was an independent, fully-fledged university that can best utilize global resources and resources from its two parent universities," Xi said.

Professors and students are recruited internationally.

Xi Youmin, executive president of Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University CHINA DAILY

Having a long-term commitment helps the school seek long-term quality, and in practice to put more stress on the development of students' thinking and moral capabilities than the memorization of what Xi calls "knowledge points", or fragmentary knowledge.

Unfortunately, Xi said, many Chinese schools are still stuck at the stage of one course book, one teacher and one string of knowledge points.

"That system doesn't really help students solve problems," Xi said. "That makes them dependent, not independent."

That is also why he wants his school to cut clean with old practices, combine the best of East and West, and redefine the concept of a university, he said.

Xi also has the support of the university's board of directors, and support from Suzhou Industrial Park,which is the school's landlord.

So far it is still not fully financially self-sufficient, and still relies on public and private financial support. But there is enough support, Xi said, to allow the school to maintain the quality of its staff.

It recruited only 164 students in its first year of service. Today, the campus has grown to be "a vibrant community of more than 10,000", according to its website.

But "we don't want to expand just in size", Xi said. "We want to keep up our standards. The first thing we want is to be special. And we work ceaselessly on it."