Government officials from Jiangsu DoE visit XJTLU

Government officials from the Department of Education (DoE) of Jiangsu Province visited Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University yesterday afternoon as part of work to learn about the experiences and achievements of universities around the country.

The delegation, led by Daokai Ge, secretary of the education committee of Jiangsu and secretary of the leading party members' group of Jiangsu DoE, visited XJTLU to hear about the University’s experiences as a Sino-foreign joint venture.

Professor Youmin Xi, executive president of XJTLU, vice presidents Dr Minzhu Yang, Professor André Brown and Dr Yimin Ding welcomed the group. Deputy director of the student management centre, Qijian Xie, and deputy director of information affairs, Dr Xin Bi, also attended the meeting.

During the meeting, Professor Xi delivered a speech on XJTLU’s reform and approach. He introduced the University’s positioning, educational model and philosophy, and international strategies, based on XJTLU’s 10 years as an international cooperative university.

Mr Ge praised XJTLU, saying: “Over 10 years, XJTLU has been demonstrated to be very effective. It has successfully combined the best of West and East and formed its own practice with unique features.”

Professor Xi also introduced XJTLU’s exploration in education for the next 10 years.

He said: “Education is encountering many challenges in the current era. About 70 to 80 percent graduates will work in areas that have no connection with their degree programmes. These students are not equipped with knowledge and abilities that are necessary for them to work in or explore a new area.

“Ability cannot simply be taught through classroom teaching. We are exploring another educational model for cultivating advanced applied talents. ”

Mr Ge agreed with Professor Xi that current education was cultivating professional talents but that comprehensive abilities and knowledge were also necessary after they entered the work market.

He said he believed that XJTLU’s approach may achieve breakthroughs and that he supported XJTLU in carrying out exploration. He added: “China is reforming, Britain is also reforming, and this reforming era has brought XJTLU opportunities as well as challenges. XJTLU can achieve even more than it has already based on its well-established foundation.”