The Five-Star Education Model
Since its founding, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) has been committed to answering the two fundamental questions of higher education: whom to educate, and how to educate them. Faithful to its founding philosophy of healthy student development as the goal, interest as the driver, and student-centred, research-led learning as the focus, the University has continued to explore and innovate educational models, and by 2009 had initially formulated its distinctive “Five-Star Education Model” (see Figure 1-1): the cultivation, through comprehensive education strategies and a strong support system, of “global citizens” equipped with the three interlocking systems of philosophy and value, capabilities, and knowledge. These three systems encompass the essential elements that students need in order to grow healthily in a globalised age. They go beyond the traditional habit of simply transmitting professional knowledge and skills; rather than sheltering students under a protective umbrella away from society, they enable students to understand the real world and to develop the attributes and capabilities needed to thrive within it.
1. The Philosophy and Value System
Guided by the core philosophy of “a happy life and a successful career”, the core values of “innovation and contribution”, the core objective of “enhancing humanity’s capacity to survive”, the core ethical principle of “harmony in diversity” (He Er Bu Tong), and the core worldview of “global vision and worldly sophistication”, the Philosophy and Value System cultivates students’ HeXie Mindset and Syntegrative Wisdom, and shapes their well-rounded character, their sense of social responsibility, and their breadth of mind and spirit of commitment.
2. The Knowledge System
The Knowledge System spans five dimensions: philosophy and wisdom; practice and experience; art and skills; science and knowledge; and technology and tools. It breaks down the boundaries of single disciplines, emphasising interdisciplinary integration and the integrated application of knowledge.
3. The Capability System
The Capability System focuses on core capabilities including international competitiveness; the integration and application of knowledge; proactive execution; explorative innovation; lifelong learning; and collaboration and communication. It enables students to develop the competitive strengths required for the workplaces of the future and for contributing to social development.
4. The Comprehensive Education Strategy
To support students in developing the three systems of knowledge, capabilities, and philosophy and value, XJTLU integrates Eastern and Western cultures, theories, and best educational practices into five comprehensive education strategies. These strategies are the pathways and instruments through which students acquire knowledge, hone capabilities, and cultivate attributes.
5. The Support System
To ensure the effective operation of the comprehensive education strategies, and in line with XJTLU’s cultural philosophy of “diversity, regularity, innovation, freedom, and trust”, the University has developed and continuously reinforced an implementation support system comprising five subsystems. These provide all-round institutional, humanistic, platform, hardware, and community support as the foundation for, and assurance of, the system’s operation.
Five Types of New Talent and Leaders in the Future
While the foundational systems of the Five-Star Education Model described above remain in place, XJTLU’s exploration of its educational philosophy and cultivation model has not stopped at the basic profile of the “global citizen”. As AI and digitalisation continue to reshape lifestyles and reconstitute social forms, XJTLU has reappraised future talent and the systems of philosophy and value, knowledge, and capabilities. This has led the University to continuously upgrade and expand its Five-Star Education Model. For example, the University now directs its cultivation towards five types of new talent and leaders, more precisely targeted to the imperatives of the age (see Figure 2), helping XJTLU students become not only global citizens able to operate worldwide, but also leaders capable of steering digital-intelligence transformation.
Figure 2 Five Types of New Talent and Leaders in the Future
The Five-Star Mentor System
To support students’ holistic development, XJTLU has expanded its original four-fold mentor system into a five-star mentor system (see Figure 3), comprising academic advisors, development advisors, external mentors, buddies, and personalised learning path mentors. The system embeds three tiers of ecological networks – the University network, the student–alumni network, and the social network – linking teachers, parents, University platforms, partners, and other stakeholders, and embedding AI-enabled intelligent assistants at every stage. This creates an all-round support framework in which “five mentors provide guidance, three tiers of networks provide support, and intelligent technology provides enablement”. It helps students discover their interests, explore personalised learning pathways, and provide systematic assurance for their growth into future-oriented, innovative talent and for their lifelong learning and development.
Figure 3 The Five-Star Mentor System
The HeXie Mindset
Underpinning the operation of the entire talent cultivation system, and embedded at the very core of talent cultivation, is the HeXie Mindset (see Figure 4-1). XJTLU developed the Mindset from HeXie Management Theory, together with Syntegrative Wisdom, the higher-order pursuit of Syntegrative Education. The HeXie Mindset shapes students’ complex mental models for the UACCS age of digital intelligence (comprising Uncertainty, Ambiguity, Complexity, Changeability, and Scarcity).
Centred on the University’s vision and mission and the priorities of each stage of development, it harnesses systematic and technological mechanisms (Xie Principle) to ensure efficiency, and human agency and creativity (He Principle) to respond to change. This ensures the coupling of He Principle and Xie Principle, achieving organic integration of the system, dynamic balance, and co-evolution with the environment. In turn, this supports the healthy development of individuals and their careers.
Figure 4-1 The HeXie Mindset
The Syntegrative Wisdom
In a complex and turbulent future world, Syntegrative Wisdom (see Figure 4-2) emphasises the deep convergence of past and present, the humanities and the sciences, East and West, knowledge and action, and human and digital intelligence. It endows us with the higher-order cognition and action required for the synergy of multiple elements within an ecosystem, and represents the penetrating capacity of thought, judgement, prioritisation, and action through which individuals and organisations respond to a complex world and reap ecosystem dividends.
Figure 4-2 Syntegrative Wisdom
The Five-Star Education Model is exceptionally rich in substance; the discussion above outlines only the main contours of its core architecture. Within the system lie numerous deeper dimensions and practical details, as well as further five-star frameworks. These include XJTLU’s MBAR2 Five-Star Management Approach – Management by Objectives (MBO), Budget Constrained Operation (BCO), ABC Analysis and Roles Back Up (ABC), Result Based Management (RBM), and Routing Case-study Meeting (RCM). They also include the TIPSH2 Five-Star Behaviour Model (Teamwork, Innovation, Professional service, Sincerity, Hospitality, and Happy work); the Dr.Fit Five-Star Cultural Philosophy (Diversity, Regularity, Innovation, Freedom, and Trust); and the VISAE2 Five-Star Behaviour Model, which, through “Vision-driven, Innovative, Systematic, Agile, Executive operation, and Effectiveness”, delivers overall organisational effectiveness.
The Model is not an isolated educational or pedagogical scheme. Rather, it constitutes a complete talent cultivation ecosystem that threads together educational philosophy, value foundations, a philosophy and valuesystem, capability paradigms, cultivation pathways, and support systems: it anchors the spiritual foundation with HeXie Mindset, tempers the methods of thinking through Syntegrative Wisdom, builds the growth framework on the five-core-dimension system of education, provides full-cycle support through the five-star mentor system, and ultimately serves the goal of cultivating five types of new talent and leaders for the digital-intelligence era.
From top-level philosophy to on-the-ground practice, and from value formation to capability empowerment, the Five-Star Education Model has always placed the comprehensive and healthy growth of the individual at its core, developing steadily and refining itself through continuous educational innovation. It lays a solid foundation for students’ healthy growth, interest-driven learning, and lifelong development, while continuing to contribute XJTLU’s explorations and insights to the reshaping of future education and to new paradigms of social governance.