Recently, overseas partner universities have once again been active in the public eye.
On April 19, City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan) was officially established, and the first batch of 14 bachelor's and master's majors such as computer science and technology, intelligent manufacturing engineering, and computer science were offered.
At the same time, a number of high-quality higher education institutions in Hong Kong and Macao, including the Hong Kong Metropolitan University, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the University of Hong Kong, the Macau University of Science and Technology, and the City University of Macau, are speeding up the process of running schools in Guangdong.
This year, Shenzhen University will set up a Hong Kong campus, and Sun Yat-sen University will establish a Institute for Advanced Study in Hong Kong. These signals show that the integrated development of higher education in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is accelerating.
Recently, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College ("UIC") welcomed its new President, Chen Zhi.
As the first university jointly run by the Mainland and Hong Kong, Beijing Normal University and Hong Kong Baptist University have been established and developed in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province for nearly 20 years, which will undoubtedly provide inspiration and reference for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao cooperation in running schools.
Recently, Nanfang + reporter interviewed Chen Zhi to get a glimpse of the new trend of cooperative school development from his new ideas of running schools and educating people.
Chen Zhi.
Focus more on student progress than grades
Sino-foreign (overseas) cooperative universities are an important part of the mainland's opening up of education.
At present, Guangdong has six partner universities, including Beijing Normal University Hong Kong Baptist University, Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Polytechnic Moscow University, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) and City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan).
It is not difficult to see that most of the partner universities are located in the 9 mainland cities of the Greater Bay Area, and their distribution is concentrated. In addition, judging from the admission situation of the Guangdong college entrance examination last year, overseas cooperative universities are popular, and the pitch line is rising.
The outside world can't help but wonder: with the continuous influx of emerging powers, is there competition and pressure from "established" partner universities such as Beijing Normal Hong Kong Baptist University?
"In the past 20 years of exploration, UIC has accumulated a lot of experience in co-operation and research that can be used for reference and research. Chen Zhi believes that there is indeed competition between partner universities, and everyone is actively creating an international environment, introducing international teachers, and cultivating international talents.
From 2018 to 2022, when he was the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Executive Vice President of Beijing Normal University, Chen Zhi assisted President Tang Tao in the school's talent introduction work, and he signed on to introduce hundreds of teaching talents. Leaving international talents is a meticulous job that he devotes himself to doing.
However, he also pointed out that different universities have different development characteristics, for example, HKUST (Guangzhou) and CityU (Dongguan) focus more on science and engineering, while Beijing Normal University and Hong Kong Baptist University (BNU) promote a liberal arts education concept with more comprehensive and diverse majors.
"Our uniqueness is obvious, and in that sense, we don't particularly compete with other schools. Chen Zhi said.
The campus of Beijing Normal Hong Kong Baptist University.
In recent years, cooperative education has become popular, and the enrollment threshold has gradually been raised. Chen Zhi, who has been focusing on admissions recently, has his own views on the competition for high-quality students from similar universities.
"We don't just look at the grades of the students we admit. Chen Zhi bluntly said that the achievement of educators is not to train children to be a standard, but to pay more attention to the progress of students compared with the past, encourage students to innovate and develop freely, and help them have a wonderful life.
Chen Zhi believes that in China, liberal arts education is a new educational concept, which is committed to cultivating talents with high comprehensive literacy, and "there is a lot to be done in running liberal arts education on the land of China".
Promote the cross-integration of artificial intelligence and other disciplines
Tang Tao, former president of Beijing Normal University, is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a well-known mathematician, while Chen Zhi is an internationally renowned scholar of literature, history and sinology. With the arrival of a humanities scholar president, will the university's future development plan further emphasize humanistic characteristics?
"Scholars can be very specialized in their field of study, but the president needs to take a holistic view of the development of the university. Chen Zhi said that Beijing Normal Hong Kong Baptist University proposes to cultivate comprehensive and innovative talents who not only have a sense of family and country, but also have an international vision. In the future, we will continue to adhere to the original development direction, and promote new development in discipline construction and talent introduction.
Among them, Beijing Normal University plans to launch new measures in discipline construction and curriculum planning, which will promote the cross-integration of artificial intelligence with other disciplines and break down disciplinary barriers.
"With the continuous development of new technologies, artificial intelligence has brought great changes to many traditional fields, forming a new trend of interdisciplinary integration. Chen Zhi introduced that as early as three years ago, Beijing Normal University Hong Kong Baptist University added a new major in artificial intelligence, cultivating professionals in data analysis, technical research, product development and other fields in this field, and accumulated a solid foundation.
In terms of talent introduction, Beijing Normal University has recently established the Institute for Advanced Study, which will focus on academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering and their research teams to carry out research in cutting-edge disciplines such as basic theory, artificial intelligence, science and culture, and the integration of arts and sciences.
Chen Zhi revealed that in the future, the Institute for Advanced Study of Beijing Normal University and Hong Kong Baptist University will be built into an advanced research institute that radiates Zhuhai and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, introducing world-class scientific research talents for local development and providing all-round think tank support.
Let the traditional connotation of Chinese culture be in line with modern values
The "contention" of arts and sciences has been going on for a long time. In recent years, many colleges and universities across the country have been increasing their investment in the construction of science and engineering, and at the moment when the employment pressure cannot be underestimated, the topic of "the rise of science and engineering and the decline of liberal arts" has repeatedly become a hot topic on the Internet.
As an internationally renowned scholar of literature, history and sinology, how does Chen Zhi view this phenomenon?
"The importance that universities attach to science and engineering is closely related to the recent history of our country, and it is the only way to save the country through science and technology and rejuvenate the country through science and education. Chen Zhi said, but the progress and development of society is also inseparable from the humanities, "the more advanced modern science and technology, the more the society needs humanities."
Chen Zhi.
"Technology is moving forward, and culture needs to be 'looking ahead and looking backward'. Chen Zhi quoted Wang Bo, vice president of Peking University, who emphasized that the humanities are disciplines that care about social reality and respond to the problems of the times, urging people to "see the future but not forget the past."
In other words, modern science and technology are created and constantly iterated by human beings, and human beings should know how to use technology rationally and correctly, so that it can contribute to the development of human beings and society, and beware of being controlled by science and technology.
This is similar to Zhuangzi's mention of 'things but not things', that is, we use science and technology, but we cannot be constrained by technology, and the bias of scientism in history is also a profound lesson. Chen Zhi said that these profound truths have also been reflected in the history of Chinese civilization for thousands of years.
Compared with the mainstream argument of "learning mathematics, physics and chemistry well, and not being afraid to go all over the world", Chen Zhi believes that in recent years, the society's recognition of humanities has been constantly improving, and more attention has been paid to the study of literature and history.
As a scholar of humanities, Chen Zhi attaches great importance to the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese culture during his years of teaching in universities. During his tenure as Executive Vice President of Beijing Normal University, Chen Zhi led the establishment of the Chinese Culture and International Communication major at the university, aiming to cultivate talents in Chinese culture and communication who can adapt to the international stage.
In Chen Zhi's view, in order to achieve the effective dissemination of Chinese culture, it is necessary to establish a value system that conforms to the law of modern social development, so that the traditional connotation of Chinese culture can be in line with modern values, so as to carry out inheritance and innovation, so as to be widely accepted and recognized in the international community.
"If students not only have a deep understanding of Chinese culture, but also have an international perspective, have the ability to communicate on the global stage, and can accurately express the connotation of traditional Chinese culture, they will definitely be able to help Chinese culture go out better. Chen Zhi said.
【Text】Southern + reporter Yao Yuyang Li Xiuting
【Photography】Southern + reporter Zhang Guanguan
【Authors】 Yao Yuyang, Zhang Guanguan, Li Xiuting
Guangdong education headlines