On June 11, the 855th issue of China Newsweek was released, including a cover story and a commentary on SUSTech, as well as interviews with both University Council Chairperson Guo Yurong and President Chen Shiyi.
Titled “SUSTech, a University with Shenzhen’s Innovative Spirit”, the 10-page cover story reports SUSTech in five aspects: its unique attraction for international scholars among Chinese universities, Shenzhen’s desperate need for a high-level university like SUSTech, SUSTech’s innovative recruitment and education system, its colorful campus life, and the wide-ranging student recruitment work across various provinces.
Unique Attraction for International Scholars among Chinese Universities
The cover story begins with Professor Deng Weiwei telling his experience of returning to China. Before joining SUSTech, the Tsinghua University and Yale alumni had a successful academic career of 15 years in the United States, including being a tenured professor at Virginia Tech. Professor Deng was invited to SUSTech as a guest speaker in mid-2016 and had in-depth conversations with President Chen Shiyi and Department Head of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering Shan Xiaowen. President Chen, who has a shared academic background in Mechanics, understood Professor Deng’s needs and hired him on the spot. Soon after, Deng decided to return to his home country and became a full-time faculty member of SUSTech.
Despite living in a two-bedroom apartment with four other family members at the time, Professor Deng did not complain and focused on his research projects and papers instead. He even took part in helping SUSTech become the university needing the least amount of time for Ministry of Education’s approval to award doctoral degrees. Despite not having the same living conditions as he used to enjoy in America, Professor Deng was happier about his life nowadays: “Even though my commute vehicle changed from a Cadillac SUV to an electric bicycle, I like my daily life here much more. The climate is so much warmer, and I don’t have to drive four hours every day for work. It takes me mere minutes to arrive on campus!”
At SUSTech, there are numerous international scholars who gave up their prestigious professoriate title in USA for a SUSTech position. As a university who is not part of Project 985 or 211, SUSTech manages to attract a large number of global talents –90% of faculty members have prior overseas working experience. SUSTech’s innovative presence is no longer viewed as controversial, but the face of education of Shenzhen.
Shenzhen’s Desperate Need for a High-Level University
Shenzhen’s development is a miracle on a global scale. It was founded on a remote fishing village fewer than 40 years ago, but it has become the fourth largest Chinese mainland city in terms of economic power for almost a decade. It is also a world-famous, innovative high-tech hub, with major corporations like Huawei and Tencent based in the city. Unfortunately, Shenzhen’s education field pales in comparison. Despite many endeavors, there were only very limited higher education resources in the city in the early 2010s, and none of them are top-ranking ones. Like economic reform, Shenzhen overcame its education problem with innovative policies and measures by founding SUSTech. With the successful development of SUSTech, other municipalities followed suit with similar innovative universities with both University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and ShanghaiTech University being prime examples.
For the cover story’s report on SUSTech’s innovative recruitment and education system, colorful campus life, and student recruitment work, please refer to pages 16-21 of the latest issue (No. 855) of China Newsweek or visit www.inewsweek.cn (in Chinese).
