Source: SYSU News Center
Written by: SYSU News Center
Photo by: Liu Jia, Shi Shuoping
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

The 2016 Spring Work Conference of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) was held on March 1. The theme of this one-day meeting was talent cultivation. In the morning, university leaders, heads of functional departments, schools, affiliated hospitals and relevant research units, academicians, professors and 800 students gathered in K.K. Leung Hall on Guangzhou South Campus, and the live broadcast of the reports enabled more students on Guangzhou North Campus, East Campus and Zhuhai Campus to participate in the conference.

Prof. Wu Yan, Director of Higher Education Evaluation Center of the Ministry of Education, was invited to give a report entitled “New Idea, New Standard, New Culture: Leading High Level Universities into the Fast Lane of Development”. He explained how to lead the development of high level universities from three aspects: new trend of higher education development, new system of quality assurance for higher education, and quality construction for world-class universities and world-class disciplines.

Prof. Li Mengfeng, Vice President of SYSU, gave a report on undergraduate talent cultivation. He reviewed the development process of talent cultivation at SYSU, pointed out the existing problems, and presented his views on the talent cultivation work for the next stage.

Prof. Luo Jun, President of SYSU, delivered a report entitled “Restructuring Talent Cultivation System and Improving Talent Cultivation Quality”. He said that talent cultivation is the fundamental task of the University and the center of the University’s work. The University’s goal of talent cultivation is to nurture talents who have both ability and moral integrity and are both able to cultivate charisma and eager serve their country. He mentioned four characteristics of talent cultivation at SYSU: the core idea of being kind to students, the leading position of general education, the outstanding tradition of “Three Basics, Three Rigors and Three Early Involvements” in medical education, and the complete system of the “Two Courses”. Meanwhile, he pointed out the problems in talent cultivation, and put forward the construction path of establishing an outstanding talent cultivation system, optimizing classroom teaching, constructing a teaching quality monitoring platform, perfecting the support system and reforming teaching management. President Luo Jun also introduced 11 concrete measures: strengthen the thought-leading role, implement the “double plan”, implement dynamic adjustment of majors, unify the testing standards for public courses, improve supervision and guidance for classroom teaching, require professors to teach courses to undergraduate students, build brand majors, establish an honor system in talent cultivation, encourage undergraduates to further their education, increase the percentage of international students and students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and enhance physical education.

In the afternoon, the Teaching Affairs Office, Student Affairs Office, and SYSU Youth Association presented a report respectively on undergraduate teaching, student affairs, and ideological and cultural construction. Lingnan College, Sino-French Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Technology, and Zhongshan School of Medicine respectively reported on their characteristics and achievements in talent cultivation.

Prof. Chen Chunsheng, Secretary of SYSU Party Committee, made concluding remarks. He made work arrangements for the next stage, and talked about three points on talent cultivation. First, time and tide wait for no man. We should take the opportunities to restructure our talent cultivation system and improve our talent cultivation quality. Second, keep pace with the times. We should transform our way of thinking and adapt to new trends and changes. Third, coordinate the systems. In system construction, we should pay attention to the coordination among systems, give priority to the interests of the whole university, and put emphasis on supervision. Finally, Secretary Chen Chunsheng called on everyone to make concerted efforts to push forward the work of the University.