The first weekend of the fall semester saw Southern University of Science and Technology hold its 2019 Meeting on Strategic Planning Development (the Meeting). The Meeting aims to explain the next stage of SUSTech’s development strategy. University Council Chairperson Guo Yurong and President Chen Shiyi joined heads of departments and research centers and nearly 100 other faculty members at the Meeting.
Nine reports on summarizing the first half year’s work, and analyzing the new opportunities and challenges, were delivered by the leadership and heads of the newly founded colleges.
Several days ago, The State Council issued a statement (the Statement) to designate Shenzhen as an exemplary city to pioneer and showcase the development of advanced urban civilization, through its support of thirty cutting-edge scientific and technological areas.
The State Council statement has brought unprecedented new opportunities and requirements of Shenzhen’s development, and requires a prominent role to be played by research universities including SUSTech.
The first day of the Meeting on August 30th was hosted by President Chen Shiyi. He made a brief report on the student recruitment in 2019 and introduced the faculty members to his leadership team, including the new Acting Vice President Zhang Dongxiao, US National Academy of Sciences, Professor Shao Qiman, founding Head of Department of Statistics and Data Science (SDS), and Professor Wu Jingshen, Dean of System Intelligent Design and Manufacturing.
As the Statement pointed out, Shenzhen need to accelerate the pace to build comprehensive national science centers to propel the innovation-driven development of the city. “The state has placed high hopes on the development of Shenzhen, and it has also brought new opportunities and new missions to SUSTech,” said President Chen. SUSTech will continue to facilitate the development in research, personnel training, and education, so as to further accelerate the development of first-class research university.
University Council Chairperson Guo Yurong then presented the first keynote speech on “Embrace New Opportunity and build SUSTech into a World-Class Research University”. She noted that as the Statement brought challenges and opportunities to SUSTech, we should strive towards modern university governance, to build a high-quality faculty, and develop world-class disciplines.
Acting Vice President Zhao Yusheng made a report on the research strategy of SUSTech. He elaborated on the progress of the discipline construction and the research projects and funding. In 2019, 193 projects have been approved by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and total funding has exceeded 100 million yuan. He pointed out that SUSTech should actively integrate into national and local major development strategies, speed up the construction of major scientific research platforms, and contribute to the city’s strategic development.
University Council Vice Chairperson Li Fengliang reported on cultivating innovative talents to meet the future needs of the Greater Bay Area. He examined the current problems in cultivating talent and the need to initiate a new training program, named “1+4+1”. In order to better cultivate talented individuals and leaders, the strategic plans would need to see the realization of cooperation within and between departments, improving professional levels and establishing new synergies. Li Fengliang also pointed out that this program should be problem-oriented, while comprehensively promoting student work through established institutions.
Professor Chen Yuehong, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, reported about the discipline development and team building of his School. He said that the School will strive to build a first-class, internationally renowned humanities and social sciences institution and become one of the benchmarks for the humanities and social sciences disciplines in a research university.
Professor Huang Wei, Dean of the School of Business, gave a report on the Business School’s construction plan. In the future, the School will integrate distinctive disciplines, innovative training programs, and strive to build a first-class business school at home and abroad, and make contributions to the socioeconomic development of the country and Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.
During the discussion sessions, participants centered on the Statement and provided suggestions for the development of SUSTech. 5G, artificial intelligence, cyberspace science and technology, future communications, and international science and technology information centers are the key areas for the future development for the University.
The School of Microelectronics, Shenzhen Third-generation Semiconductor Research Institute, Shenzhen Quantum Science and Engineering Research Institute, Science and Engineering Computing Center will gain major support from SUSTech.
In the next stage, SUSTech will promote the further development of the School of Medicine, the School of Business, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the School of Design, among other schools and departments.
The second day was hosted by Vice Chairperson Li Fengliang. Two keynote speeches were presented to the audience.
Vice President Lu Chun briefed the audience about SUSTech’s campus services. He talked about food, housing, and transportation, before expanding into the 2019 achievements in catering services, property services, power supply systems, and information development. Lu Chun said that SUSTech’s general services would maintain its continued professionalism, refinement, standardization, and internationalization, while further improving SUSTech’s service work.
Professor Xing Mingzhao, the Dean of the School of Medicine elaborated on the education and development goals of the medical school. The School of Medicine will strive to cultivate students with international vision, pioneering spirit and innovative ability. These students will deliver high-quality clinical services, explore medical unknowns, lead first-class scientific research, and promote the development of medicine.
Professor Zhang Dongxiao, the Acting Vice President, spoke about the plans for talent recruitment and improving the professional level of our faculty. He focused on the current situation, and drew on the talent working mechanism of first-class universities at home and abroad, and puts forward suggestions on improving the teaching quality, research level and international reputation of the faculty.
President Chen Shiyi gave the penultimate speech. He fully affirmed the outcomes of the meeting, integrating the results into the deployment of key tasks for the new semester. He stressed that SUSTech should continue its mission of reform in higher education while developing the talent pipeline that industry and the state has come to expect. The strong research culture at SUSTech provides the foundation for the realization for the goal of “building a world-class research university, rooted in China,” and everyone should make unremitting efforts towards the achievement of this goal.
Chairperson Guo Yurong closed the meeting by saying that all the departments should focus on their development and their relationship to the strategic needs of the Greater Bay Area and the nation. The assimilation of resources and advantages that SUSTech provides can offer major opportunities to support Shenzhen in building an exemplary city to pioneer and showcase the development of advanced urban civilization.
