Earlier this week, the Humanities Center at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) held its annual review into the Writing and Communication courses.

Deputy Director of the Humanities Center Yang Guo chaired the meeting that was attended by several members of the Humanities Center. The meeting sought to summarize the achievements covered in the course this year, in order to make appropriate changes ahead of next year’s classes.

In the spring semester this year, about 600 students undertook writing and communications in small groups, focusing on their oral communications, practical writing and academic paper writing. The purpose of such a course is intended to prepare students for working in academia, whether speaking in presentations or writing research papers for academic journals. Students were found to be more confident in their oral presentations, with every student giving significant speeches in front of their classmates. Many students became active debaters in class, and commented that the course helped them become more articulate in communicating and more critical when approaching complex topics.

There has also been a big improvement in student’s academic writing ability, with the completion of a 3000-5000 word academic paper on a given topic. Some of these topics reached the point of submission into high-level academic journals, with one due for publication in the Journal of Physical Chemistry A (JCPA) in the near future.

The review of the course gave the scholars the opportunity to improve the course for next year’s students. The faculty members examined all the feedback and challenges to ensure that future students would be better placed to improve their oral and written communication skills, particularly for those seeking to work in academia in the future.

The attending faculty members agreed that they would spend time studying new methods of teaching to enhance student’s humanistic qualities. The improved curriculum will see SUSTech students develop a more international perspective which will see them develop into future leaders of the new era that will support strategic industries across the Greater Bay Area.