On December 8th, 2018, the Austrian Center Shanghai hosted the Austrian Alumni Christmas Party at Radisson Blu Hotel Shanghai New World.
Mrs Brigitte Seyrlehner, Austrian Consul General Shanghai, Ms Christina Schösser, Head of Advantage of Austria and Consul for Commercial Affairs of Austrian Consulate General Shanghai, and Mr Philipp Agathonos, Minister Plenipotentiary of Austrian Embassy Beijing and Director of Office of Science and Technology Austria Beijing (OSTA) attended the event.
The event was presided over by Mrs Alexandra Wagner, Head of the Austrian Center Shanghai and Vice Consul for Education and Science of Austrian Consulate General Shanghai. She greeted all attendees and made a brief introduction to the Austrian Center Shanghai and OeAD alumni management.
She also extended our gratitude to the sponsors. The event was fully funded by Austrian sponsors from industry and Austrian organizations. Austrian Consulate General Shanghai, OSTA, Advantage Austria and Eurasia Pacific Uninet (EPU) provided backing on the financial level and beyond.
As Austrian companies thriving in China, RHI Magnesita (refractory), Gebrüder Weiss (logistics and transportation), and Primetals Technologies (metallurgy) also offered generous support to the Austrian alumni event. Without their help, we would not be able to make the event happen.
During the event, our sponsors respectively made presentations and introduced themselves to the participants. Afterwards, we conducted a lucky draw for an Austria-China round-trip air ticket voucher provided by EPU.
Last year, the first official Austrian alumni event we held in Shanghai attracted over 80 guests. This year’s Austrian Alumni Christmas Party remained popular. Around 120 guests from various fields attended the event, such as medicine, economics, law, ecology, and engineering.
Many alumni have become established scholars and business leaders, and they appreciated the occasion to reunite with old friends, to recollect memories of Austria, and to know more about the growth of Austrian industry in China.
Aside from strengthening existing bonds, alumni also had extensive opportunities to establish new connections with fellow alumni and Austrian industry representatives during the event. A number of participants commented that they were looking forward to more similar alumni events in the future.
The Austrian Center Shanghai wishes everybody a Merry Christmas in advance!
