April 14, 2018, saw SUSTech throw open the gates of its campus for its Spring Open Day. More than 3000 students and parents strolled through the campus, discovering courses, living arrangements, and social and educational facilities while the Open Day webcast saw visitor numbers soar past 300,000.

At 9 am, University Council Chairperson Guo Yurong addressed a warm and lively lecture hall full of parents and students. She spoke about the educational reform mission of SUSTech and its training model for cultivating and nurturing innovative talents. With SUSTech’s goal of being a world-class research university, rooted in China, Chairperson Guo Yurong pointed to the achievements made in the six years of the university’s life thus far. She finished off her speech by amplifying the uniqueness of SUSTech in its innovative and entrepreneurial culture and the student-oriented model and expressed the hope that more young talented students would help build a bigger and better SUSTech in the future.

Deputy Provost Huang Kefu then addressed the crowd. He spoke about the innovative “2+2” training model, and how it works with the credits system, dual-advisory tutor system, and residential colleges, to encourage a global outlook, individual attention to students and an elite educational experience overall. Academician and Dean of the School of Sciences Yang Xueming introduced the School and talked about his own educational and research experiences.

Associate Director of Office of Global Engagement Li Xu introduced just a small number of the overseas exchange opportunities and co-operative projects that SUSTech has with other universities around the world. He pointed out that currently, 43% of all SUSTech graduates are working or studying overseas, the most out of any university in mainland China.

The admissions officers talked about the “6+3+1,” enrolment model as part of their introduction to the recruitment and registration process of SUSTech.

Two student representatives then addressed the audience, to talk about their experiences and plans for the future. Ouyang Wen has received many scholarships from across the globe, including UCLA and Oxford. He praised the “2+2” system, as it allowed him to find his academic interests while studying on campus, instead of having to decide as soon as getting here. Huang Lexiang will soon pursue his Ph.D. at the Pennsylvania State University, and he said that the rich scientific research opportunities he received during his undergraduate studies gave him significant confidence and impressed his interviewers.

Students and parents traveled from all over China to attend our Spring Open Day, with people coming from as far as Zhejiang, Hunan, Shanxi, Beijing, Henan, Guizhou, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Guangxi.

In addition to attending the morning speeches, parents and students also visited the campus and experienced the faculty and students of the school, the teaching and research environment, and the picturesque scenery. Visitors got to check out the first-class facilities such as the libraries, laboratories, teaching buildings, stadiums, and canteens. The access to campus amenities allowed students and parents to be highly interactive and immersed in all areas of campus, like the Residential Colleges, the Lychee Hills, the centuries-old ancient banyan, the vicissitudes of the watchtower. Parents and students were able to enjoy the integration of cultural landscapes and history into a picture so that our many visitors did not want to leave.

Commentary on the Spring Open Day both online and in person was overwhelmingly positive. Just some of the things said were:

“It’s so beautiful that there’s such a paradise in a modern city like Shenzhen, this is the most beautiful campus I’ve ever seen;”
“just entering the school gate, I saw a waterbird flying over the river, and in a moment reminds me of Tagore’s “Stray Birds,” it’s just too poetic;”
“The weather and air quality in Shenzhen. Well, it’s better than the city we live now;”
“I hope that after the Graduate School of the South University of Science and Technology opens in 2018, my son Zhu Xiaoyu will be able to gain more knowledge in his mechanical engineering major. I want him to understand the truth of life and work, and reach the peak of life so that he can realize his ideas and beliefs;”
“SUSTech’s stadium is also superb! Envy;”
“I think that Southern University of Science and Technology was developing so fast and the teachers were so good;” and
In the course of visiting the campus, the students and parents have been a lot of great praise for SUSTech.

With many media platforms, both online and offline, reporting on the Spring Open Day, numerous members of the faculty and staff were interviewed, as well as visiting students and parents, exploring campus facilities, trying food in the student cafeteria, introducing university policies and generally showing what SUSTech can offer. The official SUSTech Spring Open Day webcast was tracking a cumulative total of 300,000 views late in the morning and was still climbing.

We hope to see you at our next Open Day!