David Goodman, vice president academic affairs at the Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University [Photo/jschina.com.cn]

From overseas schools to Chinese campuses, and nowadays to Sino-foreign cooperative education, David Goodman has spent every single day being busy and fulfilled – dedicated to his beloved educational cause. 

The gentle and cultivated professor is now vice president of academic affairs at the Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in Suzhou city, East China's Jiangsu province, an open campus well integrated into the Dushu Lake surroundings. 

Before joining the XJTLU faculty group, Goodman taught at the prestigious Nanjing University in 2012, and previous to that, his educational footsteps has covered many renowned schools across the globe, such as the University of London and Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, and the University of Sydney in Australia. 

But Goodman's connection with China started a long time ago – back in 1976 when the young man embarked for the first time to China and ignited the idea to study in the Eastern country. 

He became a student of economics at the Peking University in China's capital of Beijing in 1978, the time when China's reform and opening-up had just raised its curtain. 

Goodman pursued his studies in China, and has also gone through how the policy has laid remarkable impact on the country. 

To obtain first-hand research materials, Goodman travelled alongside his work and pinned many places on his map, such as Qingdao in East China's Shandong province, Taiyuan in North China's Shanxi province, and Zhongshan in South China's Guangzhou province. 

"Traveling was not as easy as it is today," Goodman said, "We needed permission from the public security department and our work unit, while we also had to book our tickets in advance." 

But as China opened wider and deeper to the world, foreigners enjoyed more convenience in traveling across the country and the permission has also been locked in the history. 

"This is one of the greatest achievements of China's reform and opening-up," he said.