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The discipline construction of biological sciences in China is relatively early, different colleges and universities after years of development, its training direction and level are different, in the selection of colleges and universities to do a good job of investigation in advance, combined with their own situation to choose.
According to the data of the Sunshine College Entrance Examination Network, there are currently 298 colleges and universities in China that have biological science majors, and the biological science majors of different colleges and universities have their own characteristics, some are mainly biochemical, some focus on sugar production and fermentation, some focus on disease principles, ergonomics, etc., and some of the biology majors of normal universities are mainly aimed at training teachers.
As a basic discipline, the strength of the university is extremely important for professional construction, so the top three institutions majoring in biological sciences are Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which are consistent with the ranking of the comprehensive strength of Chinese institutions.
Tsinghua Peking University is located in Beijing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University is located in Shanghai, the biological sciences majors of these three institutions have all received A+ evaluations in the fourth subject evaluation of the Ministry of Education, and the following is part of the data of the results of the fourth subject evaluation of the Ministry of Education.
Overall, the three institutions that received A+ evaluations have little difference in discipline level, of which the Biology Department of Peking University is the earliest and the strongest, so we will focus on it here.
The life science major of Peking University is affiliated with the School of Life Sciences of Peking University, and the history of the school can be traced back to the Department of Biology of Peking University established in 1925, and it is also one of the earliest biology departments established in China's colleges and universities.
In 1952, the biology departments of Peking University, Yenching University and Tsinghua University merged, and on this basis, the current School of Life Sciences of Peking University was established in 1993. After a long period of historical inheritance and academic accumulation, the School of Life Sciences of Peking University currently ranks first in China and 38 in the international ranking, making it the only biology department in China to enter the world's top 50.
As the best biological sciences institution in China, Peking University has an extremely strong teaching force. Among the 168 faculty members of the Academy, there are 74 professors/researchers, including two academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 10 chief scientists of the national "973" program and the national major scientific research program, 9 project leaders of the national key research and development program, 1 national famous teacher, 1 national model teacher and 25 winners of the National Outstanding Youth Fund.
In recent years, the School of Biological Sciences of Peking University has adopted a series of new teaching methods, such as "small class teaching", "intensive challenge class for undergraduates", and "modular teaching plan". This new way is more focused on students' self-thinking ability, and pay more attention to the improvement of practical ability, the course will require all students to participate in scientific research practice, Peking University official website disclosure information shows that its college of life sciences nearly 400 undergraduate students, 25-30% of the students' undergraduate research results are published in SCI journals, which shows the strong scientific research training ability of its college.
Peking University also has a "Life Sciences Intensive Challenge Class", which selects no more than 20 freshmen or sophomores every year, specially equipped with teachers for training, and will provide opportunities for scientific research exchanges in foreign institutions.
As a foundational discipline, biological sciences can be combined with many other disciplines and applied to other disciplines. Therefore, Peking University has corresponding research centers, such as the Bioinformatics Center that studies the intersection of biology and computers, and chemical biology that intersects with chemistry. In fact, this intersection of disciplines also represents the research direction of biological sciences, in the undergraduate level, students should actively think about how biology is combined with other disciplines, and choose their own research direction, which is of great significance for future academic research and career development.
The construction of basic disciplines requires a lot of capital investment, so in general, the stronger the comprehensive strength of the school, the better the construction of its basic disciplines, but there are exceptions, such as Northeast Normal University, which is also the only 211 institution among all the institutions that have obtained A and other evaluations.
Northeast Normal University Biological Sciences is affiliated with the School of Life Sciences, founded in 1948, initially as the Department of Natural sciences of Northeastern University, later renamed the Department of Biology in 1950, with continuous development and evolution, until 1994 to form the current Northeast Normal University School of Life Sciences.
According to the data disclosed on its official website, there are currently 84 teachers in the college, including 38 professors, 24 associate professors, 5 senior engineers, 2 Yangtze River scholars, etc., in addition, the dean and vice president of the college are academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Similar to Peking University, the life sciences major of Northeast Normal University also has a "base class" to select outstanding talents from the lower grades to enter the study. In addition, 5-7 people will be selected to study abroad every year, carry out international academic exchanges, and have joint projects with universities in the United Kingdom and other countries to jointly train undergraduate and graduate students majoring in biological sciences.
As a normal university, the biological sciences of Northeast Normal University also have a bias for teacher education, specifically Northeast Normal University will distinguish between teacher training students and non-teacher training students from the third year, and will adopt different education methods. For teacher training students, Northeast Normal University will pay more attention to the cultivation of middle school students' biology teaching ability and provide many opportunities for simulation exercises; rather than teacher training students, Northeast Normal University will pay more attention to the background of students' scientific research ability, providing help such as project funding and teacher guidance.
It is worth mentioning that the biological science major of Northeast Normal University obtained the professional certification of the Ministry of Education in July 2020, and the graduates of the 2020-2026 class of the major can directly issue a teacher qualification certificate in the case of qualified results, so it is also a rare opportunity for students who want to become biology teachers.
In addition, it should be noted that the biological science majors in each school do not admit color blindness or color deficiency patients, and for students who really want to study biological sciences but suffer from color blindness (color weakness), they can only consider studying abroad.
Summary of key points:
1. Generally speaking, the stronger the comprehensive strength of science, the stronger the strength of the biological science major;
2. Peking University has the strongest biological science strength, but it is not much different from the strength of the top ranking institutions;
3. For students who want to become teachers, Northeast Normal University is a good choice.
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In the next lecture, we will introduce the employment of biological science majors. We'll see you next.