On April 2,2016, SUSTech held 2016 Spring Open Campus Day activity, which attracted over 2,000 high-school students, parents and other external people to it. President Chen Shiyi gave report on education philosophy and development of the university. He said, this year SUSTech will enroll 1,000 undergraduates in China and will continue to adopt the 631 “comprehensive enrollment model”. Excellent high-school graduates are encouraged to apply for SUSTech.
At 9 o’clock in the morning, many high-school students and parents arrived at SUSTech and made the morning visit. Departments and schools arranged professors to answer questions raised by the high-school students and parents under the Big Banyan Tree. The applicants, parents and SUSTech professors had free talks. After that, the student volunteers showed them to visit library, laboratory, academy and dormitory.
In addition to local high-school students and parents in Shenzhen, many parents came to Shenzhen by train or by plane from other cities such as Dongguan, Guangzhou and even from other provinces. “My child is now in Grade 12 and has great interest in SUSTech. Because of his busy school timetable, I am here to learn the university for him. Open Campus Day is a good opportunity and we feel assured by seeing the university with our own eyes”, said a parent coming from Shandong.
In the interview, the journalist also met a spontaneous student delegation. “We are classmates coming from the same class in Long Gang High School in Shenzhen”. The student delegation had 8 members. “All of us have keen interest in SUSTech. So we decide to come here”, when asked how much they know about SUSTech, one student responded, “Now we are able to learn about SUSTech not only by visiting its website or reading news about it. When having chat with classmates, teachers, parents and relatives, we would hear about SUSTech. Today many people are paying attention to the university. And we visit it this time just to gain the direct impression.”
When visiting the laboratory, the journalist met a high-school student who shows great interest in SUSTech Department of Biology. “I might select biology as my major. And by visiting the biology laboratory in SUSTech, I hope to learn from the teachers here about SUSTech Department of Biology and its future development. I feel I have learned a lot and have greater confidence”, said the student coming from Shenzhen High School.
At 10:30 a.m., the meeting was held in No. 1 Research Building. Mr. Zhao Hongjun, Director of SUSTech Admission Office, chaired the meeting. He started his speech by quoting the comments made by Professor Chen Ning Yang on SUSTech. After that, Mr. Zhao introduced concisely to the attending students and parents about SUSTech development plan, academic structure and plan, faculty, talents training, international cooperation, student life and their future development. He emphasized on the cultivation ways in SUSTech featured by “3 systems and 3 developments” as well as advantages of the university so that students and parents have deeper understanding of the university.
Loud applause was heard when President Chen walked into the lecture hall. At first, President Chen expressed his welcome to the participants in SUSTech Open Campus Day. He said SUSTech worked very hard in 2015. “SUSTech was flourishing in 2015. We followed the right direction and boomed by showing the ambition of becoming the best university in China”. Then he introduced development and plan of SUSTech while elaborating on the vision. Due to the development of Shenzhen and the city’s requirements for universities, “SUSTech will definitely become one of the best universities in China”. “By coming to SUSTech, you are creating history together with us and you are choosing to stay with the future, but not the past”. President Chen said we welcome the students with creativity, imagination and spirit of independent thinking. “If you want to see your children becoming the genuine talents, SUSTech is your best choice”. “Only different education can cultivate different talents”. Before conclusion, President Chen expressed again his emphasis on students. “The future of each student is the future of SUSTech”. He said he would reply to all WeChat messages and emails from students. “If necessary, you can come to me directly because my duty is to serve students.”
President Chen and Mr. Zhao Hongjun answered, in a very patient way, questions raised by students and parents. But many students and parents continued to ask questions after the meeting was concluded.
On that noon, students and parents had lunch in SUSTech dining hall. In the afternoon, professors and students from SUSTech departments and schools continued to answer questions on the campus.
Students and teachers responsible for organizing the Open Campus Day talked about their feeling, “SUSTech Open Campus Day would produce new feelings every year”, said a Year 3 SUSTech student, “I worked as the volunteer for Open Campus Day when I was a sophomore. At that time, most parents would ask, ‘How is SUSTech? What on earth is SUSTech like? Where do SUSTech teachers come from?’, etc. From their questions, we could sense they didn’t have confidence in the new university. But this year most parents would ask ‘How can our children apply for the university? What is the minimum score required? Are there special requirements for the applicants’ ability?’ They are having trust in SUSTech, but not doubts. And I can tell the change that happens in the 3 years.”
