Between July 1 and 30, 2019, Zhiyuan College has accepted 8 students from University of Michigan (UM) to attend two honors courses with Zhiyuan Chemistry students. Two of the UM exchange students conducted research activities between May 10 and July 30, 2019, which is the milestone breakthrough for two-way research exchange at Zhiyuan College.

Every year, UM sends 2-4 senior professors from the Department of Chemistry to lecture core courses for Zhiyuan Chemistry students, and UM also sends 5-10 students to attend the classes with Zhiyuan counterparts. The Summer Honors Courses last for one month.

Between 2016 and 2019, a total of 33 students from the UM have came to Zhiyuan for course-study, and it is the first time for the UM student representatives to conduct research internship activities at Zhiyuan College. During spare time, Zhiyuan students and their UM classmates visited labs and sight-seeing resorts in Suzhou, also attend cultural activities together, which helped to tighten their friendship and increase their cross-cultural understanding.