Earlier this semester, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences of Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) held its strategy seminar since the formal establishment of the College in April this year. Nearly 100 faculty members from different centers attended the meeting that was chaired by Social Science Center Director Zhou Yongming.

Dean Chen Yuehong

Higher Education Research Center Deputy Director Zhao Jianhua

Arts Center Director Bi Baoyi

Center for Language Education Director Li Yuan

Dean Chen Yuehong talked about the recent Fall Meeting on Strategic Planning Development. He was followed by Higher Education Research Center Deputy Director Zhao Jianhua, Arts Center Director Bi Baoyi, Center for Language Education Director Li Yuan and Zhou Yongming, who all briefed the audience about their respective centers.

At the end of the seminar, Dean Chen Yuehong summarized the meeting by discussing seven key points. He emphasized the importance of administering a multidisciplinary research approach and reinvesting in humanities and arts education. With this in mind, they would develop a talent pipeline that carries out first-class humanities and arts education that is integrated with the science and engineering curriculum at SUSTech.

The work of the College has combined the compulsory general education courses required by the Ministry of Education with a wide range of electives that cultivate future leaders with a global, innovative outlook. For Chen Yuehong, it requires a more open approach to the humanities and arts that encourages integration with the sciences, engineering. In his view, innovative future leaders need to have a multidisciplinary knowledge base that covers both the natural and social sciences in order to be independent innovators so craved by society. At the same time, new liberal arts education should develop with an outward facing eye. By learning from other top liberal arts departments around the world, everyone can progress together.

He hopes that in the near future, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences will become a model for the flourishing development of humanities and social sciences colleges and institutes within science and engineering universities across China. Within ten years, Chen Yuehong aims for the College to become the most distinctive, first-class and internationally renowned one within a science and engineering university in the world.