To make further progress in implementing the spirit of the national education conference and the national conference on undergraduate education of institutions of higher learning in the new era, and to advance the connotative development in CMEE's talent cultivation and specialty construction, a symposium on learning first-rate undergraduate education and constructing first-rate specialty programs was held in meeting room 408 of the Mechanical Building at CMEE. The symposium marked a continuity with the former symposium held among CMEE’s leadership team concerning undergraduate talent cultivation and construction of first-rate undergraduate specialty programs. The meeting was attended by the head of each specialty program, the department and center of basic courses and basic laboratory, representatives of faculty members and staff of teaching administration. The meeting was presided over by Hongjie Yu, the associate dean in charge of teaching.
Ms. Yu first introduced the new requirements and initiatives of BUCT on educational and teaching reforms in the context of China's higher education reform, conveyed BUCT’s initiative on advancing first-rate undergraduate education and improving talent cultivation capacities; the opinion on enhancing classroom teaching and improving teaching quality; the implementation plan for “integrating idealogical and political education with courses” (draft for discussion); and other important institutional documents on constructing and applying online open courses. All faculty members of CMEE were expected to learn and gain an in-depth and thorough understanding of new requirements and mechani**s concerning the university's reforms, so as to achieve a resonance between the reform and development in CMEE and the educational and teaching reform taking place in the whole university.
Heads of specialty programs like Process Equipment and Control Engineering, Safety Engineering, Mechanical Design, Manufacturing and Automation reported on talent cultivation plan and status of the registration and construction of first-rate undergraduate programs in their departments. Mr. Caifu Qian, on behalf of the Process Equipment and Control Engineering program, Ms. Xuetao He from the Mechanical Design, Manufacturing and Automation program, and Mr. Dongsheng Zhang from the Safety Engineering program, provided detailed briefings on how their cultivation plans were amended and the achievements and challenges of specialty program construction. Attendants of the meeting had a broad discussion on details regarding the amendment of talent cultivation plans, and exchanged opinions about the challenges arising from program construction and development, and proposed many feasible solutions. An in-depth communication about specific items in cultivation plans, such as credits, students’ learning outcomes, learning conditions and characteristics, as well as mechani**s by which student affairs are managed, was also carried out in the meeting. Mr. Shuangxi Li, associated dean of the Process Equipment and Control Engineering Department, shared his experience on formative evaluation amid the construction of course systems and student cultivation.
In the context of all-round educational and teaching reform at BUCT, the college sets its goal towards “constructing first-rate specialty programs and cultivating first-class talents” and centers its efforts on constructing “new engineering programs”. With concerted efforts of the faculty members and students, the college has achieved substantial progress in deepening course system reform, implementing teaching reform and constructing a quality-centered culture, laying a solid foundation for the all-round construction of first-rate programs and cultivating first-class talents. The symposium was preceded by a seminar themed in undergraduate talent cultivation and construction of first-rate undergraduate specialty programs attended by the leadership team of CMEE, in which Bing Zhang, secretary of the CPC committee, and Weimin Yang, dean of CMEE, set out specific instructions about the upcoming symposium, requiring that all departments and centers should gain from the meeting an adequately understanding of the trend and specific requirements of the university's reform. In the meantime, with respect to the confusions and problems arising from the process of constructing first-rate programs, each department should propose constructive solutions based on sufficient investigations. The college plans to convene an educational and teaching work meeting at the beginning of the fall semester to facilitate a broad discussion on constructing first-rate specialty programs and cultivating first-class talents, so as to comprehensively advance the pace of first-rate program construction and provide all-round support for talent cultivation.