Source: SYSU News Center
Written by: SYSU News Center
Photo by: Hou Yi, Liu Jia, Jin Feng
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

In the afternoon on November 11, 2014, Sun Yat-sen University First Advisory Board Inaugural Meeting was held in Swasey Hall on South Campus. The establishment of SYSU Advisory Board is in accordance with the regulation in Sun Yat-sen University Statute approved by the Ministry of Education.

The SYSU Advisory Board is a senior consultative body providing advice and counsel for SYSU’s decision making, comprised of a wide range of eminent personnel, including experts from various fields with recognized academic status and high social prestige, SYSU alumni, and prominent members of the society, acting as a bridge and liaison that closely and comprehensively connects the university with all walks of the society. Board members are invited by SYSU to help the university keep pace with new frontiers of education in China and abroad, to counsel the university in setting its overall strategic goals and policies, and to promote the development of the university. Board members can provide consultation on the university’s overall strategic plans, institutional innovation and educational reform, international cooperation and exchange; offer advice on important issues, policies and programs pertaining to the continuous progress of the university; and assist the university in expanding the resources. Board members are appointed to three-year terms and can be reappointed. Board members shall not receive a salary from SYSU.

Secretary Zheng Detao said in his address that at the 90th anniversary of the founding of Sun Yat-sen University by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, members of the First SYSU Advisory Board gathered together to provide consultation on the university’s development. The university will perfect the running mechanism of the Advisory Board, and promote its healthy and harmonious development. In the crucial period of comprehensive reform, SYSU will take this opportunity of the establishment of the Advisory Board to promote the overall development of the university and make greater contributions to the development of our country and the progress of mankind.

Deputy Secretary Li Ping announced the Decision on the Establishment of the First SYSU Advisory Board and the Members of the First SYSU Advisory Board. The Advisory Board Constitution was approved by vote at the meeting.

Executive Deputy Secretary and Vice President Chen Chunsheng gave a report on the recent development and future plan of the university. Now, SYSU is on a track of better and faster development and is striving to become a first-class university in the world. We will stick to our educational philosophy, promote the construction of first-class interdisciplinary cluster platforms, disciplines, laboratories, research institutes, teams and talents. Through comprehensive reform, SYSU will establish a modern university system that can continuously stimulate inner drive, harmoniously communicate with external environment and constantly pursue academic excellence.

Over 40 board members present at the meeting gave their opinions and suggestions on the development of the university. Some suggested that SYSU can learn from the flexible mode of education at University of Michigan and Massachusetts Institute of Technology; SYSU faculty members can pay attention to the interactive teaching method “peer instruction”, which puts the students at the center of learning; SYSU students can care about important issues in the country and participate in social and cultural development. Some hoped that SYSU can give full play to its three strengths (located in Guangdong province which has the most dynamic market economy, adjacent to Hong Kong which is an international financial center, and having the best students in South China), improve undergraduate education, innovate teaching mode, and play a bigger role in academic research and as a government think tank.