In mid to late August of each year, about 180 “fresh faces” step foot into the unique setting of Shuren College at Southern University of Science and Technology. With an enthusiasm for education, this newest group of undergraduates is set to reshape Shuren College in their own way each way.
For one member of the Shuren College community, this is the busiest time of the year, commuting between his office in the Department of Chemistry and his office in Shuren College. Professor Huang Limin is not only a well-regarded chemist, but is also the Dean of Shuren College.
His academic credentials are among the best on campus, with degrees in applied chemistry from Fudan University, and work experience at Columbia University, City University of New York and University of California Riverside. The vast majority of his 70 published papers have been published in SCI-standard journals, including three in Science. Professor Huang Limin has been cited nearly three thousand times, while presenting 50 papers at international conferences. He has earned two Chinese patents and applied for 6 US patents.
Professor Huang Limin has been with SUSTech since 2012, when there were only two office buildings on campus, just 20 students and he shared office space with other professors. He did not even have his own laboratory. Despite these challenges, he set his sights high to achieve the best, and educate the students to the best of his ability.
Shuren College was the second college to open at SUSTech. At its establishment, Huang Limin served as its Deputy Dean, and earned the title of Dean one year later. His understanding of the name Shuren comes from the Chinese characters that make up the name. Shu represents a tree, or long-term training. Ren means people, and can mean benevolence, so we take that to mean student-oriented. Thus, Shuren College represents long-term student-oriented training and development.
Shuren College has a long and well-established management structure, with nine core team members in the management team dealing with different departments across the college. The tutor team of 53 consists of professors, associate professors and assistant professors, and Professor Huang Limin is amazed at how Shenzhen speed has integrated itself into SUSTech. “In the blink of an eye, I have seen the rapid development of SUSTech and Shuren College, in just six or seven years!”
Shuren College has an undergraduate student population of 716, and over 520 students have graduated from Shuren College so far.
While Shuren College has a history of long-term development of its students, one’s eye cannot help but be drawn to the display case on display in the Shuren College activity room, filled with various sizes of trophies. Professor Huang Limin is proud of the efforts of his students in various sporting achievements over the years, particularly in intra-college competitions. Shuren College students have founded a number of sports clubs, which has attracted sports-loving students to the college every year.
Shuren College has also founded literary and arts associations, encouraging cultural exchanges among those with traditional Chinese cultural pursuits. The different clubs encourage students to communicate and create new ideas.
Shuren College has also become a home for many international students, developing the global outlook so desired by SUSTech. Professor Huang Limin encourages its international cohort to partake in a variety of festivals throughout the year, and guides multicultural communication between foreign and domestic students.
Huang Limin hopes that by perfecting Shuren College with a unique cultural atmosphere, it will become a growing community that share a variety of different disciplines. This will give everyone a stronger sense of belonging.
SUSTech is committed to becoming a high-level research university that cultivates top-notch innovative future leaders with international vision. Under SUSTech’s diversified training models, the residential colleges support students in the laying of their academic foundations. In the view of Huang Limin, the college tutor system is at the core of SUSTech’s success. The two intermediate periods between high school & university, then between the general curricula & their research direction can create significant challenges for students, so college tutors can support students at these difficult times.
“While some students have a very clear direction on arrival at SUSTech, others are not so sure. The tutors are all experienced researchers, who can help guide the students lay a solid foundation and head in the right direction.” Huang Limin added that the tutors do not have to teach the students in their other classes; they can still assist their tutees in other aspects of their lives.
Huang Limin also believes that Shuren College helps students develop their educational skills in conjunction with students, mentors and peers. Through the development of their comprehensive quality, human qualities, scientific spirit, international outlook and healthy mind, Shuren College would continue to strengthen the core of its college tutor system to develop its well-rounded education.
With the newest group of Shuren College undergraduates enrolled from the Class of 2023, Shuren College is continuing to grow and develop under the leadership of Professor Huang Limin. He is looking forward to seeing more young students join Shuren College in the future.
