Saturday, April 13^th saw countless students and parents descend upon Southern University of Science and Technology and feel the charm of our campus. Parents came to assess our classroom for their children, high school students came to find out what our laboratories are like and children came to sate their scientific curiosity. They lingered in the library and gazed upon our grounds. The high-precision experimental instruments in our laboratories and on-site demonstrations of scientific projects thrilled the thousands who came to learn.

Green Pine Stadium saw every department display themselves to the visitors to campus. Technology was on full display across the stadium, thrilling everyone who came to the stadium to experience cutting-edge technology.

Professor Rong Yiming from the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering talked about the discussions he had had with parents. “The parents of high school students are interested in our Department and our teachers. I’ve also talked about how we train the students. Since we are mainly based on engineering practice, we’ve had to provide a different perspective for parents. We have worked hard to develop relationships with other universities around China and the rest of the world and send many students to study off campus. We also combine traditional engineering studies with a forward-looking approach. A perfect example of that is the SUSTech Nanshan Racing team, which have built several high-speed electric racing cars. I am very proud of the teachers and students of the Department.”

Professor Zhang Wenyong from the School of Medicine said, “We are mainly introducing the School of Medicine to interested students and parents, and they can also visit the School. Parents are mainly interested in professional settings, including our new major or clinical medicine. I think the Open Day is very helpful for parents to get a better understanding of the School, including our profession and discipline.”

2015 Zhixin College counselor Zhang Hongxu said: “Some parents don’t know much about the residential college system, so we explain why there are six colleges and the distribution of each college. By showing them SUSTech’s unique characteristics and those of each residential college, we also prepared a small flyer. Many parents also asked about the 631 enrollment model and interview, so we also try to answer those questions.”

Ms. Xiong Li, who brought her primary school children, said, “Today, I took the children to see the university because I felt that I should plant the seeds of science from childhood. For a new university like SUSTech, many parents don’t know much about it, so they want to take a look at it today. The campus environment and architectural design are very distinctive. I want to instill scientific thinking into my child from an early age, and hope that he will be admitted to SUSTech in the future.”

Another parent said that he has been paying attention to SUSTech for a long time. He is convinced of the school’s educational philosophy and rapid development. He believes that this is an internationalized and innovative university. Although his child is still in junior high school, he is also very interested in SUSTech. He hoped that through this visit, he could better understand SUSTech.

While Green Pine Stadium was full of people around the booths, they are well organized due to the strength of the SUSTech volunteers. The SUVA student volunteers were clad in bright green clothes and were joined by enthusiastic parent volunteers with the red sashes.

Student volunteer Li Shilong said: “We are responsible for distributing materials and souvenirs, leading students and parents around campus. The visitors are very enthusiastic. I am happy to be a volunteer for SUSTech.”

Volunteering parents arrived early to guide the visitors. A parent of Zhiren College student Weng Shizhen commented: “We have always wanted the best for SUSTech’s development. The senior students of SUSTech are very enthusiastic, and so we join them with our enthusiasm today. I am very willing to help SUSTech, and as a parent, I am a ‘live example’ that recognizes SUSTech, which will be more satisfying for visitors. As long as SUSTech has activities, many of our parent volunteers will make themselves available. We all hope our children will thrive with SUSTech and wish SUSTech the best for the future.

Zeng Sizhe, a sophomore from Longgang Affiliated High School of Huazhong Normal University, said: “I mainly wanted to know about SUSTech’s campus environment and its teachers. I was most interested in the School of System Design and Intelligent Manufacturing, and the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. I think these two departments are more in line with the development of modern society. If I can come to SUSTech, I want to study in these two departments.”

A wheelchair-bound senior student from the Chinese Department of Shenzhen University liked SUSTech. She heard Professor Zhu Qiang from the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering and Associate Professor Liu Yushu of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. When both professors saw her special circumstances, they went down to talk to her.

In order to better integrate the visitors, SUSTech produced commemorative student ID cards, allowing everyone to enter the campus as a SUSTecher and feel the rich university atmosphere and unique campus culture. We hope that more outstanding students will become SUSTechers in the future.

The Spring Open Day is held to present SUSTech to the community and online live broadcasters, in order to better understand our uniqueness. As Associate Professor Liu Yushu said, the Open Day is not only to attract students and parents, but also as a full-scale display of all people who are interested in SUSTech.