The morning of April 29, 2019 marked the inauguration ceremony of the Six Excellence and One Brilliance Plan 2.0 (SENBP 2.0) held in the Qiushi Hall of Tianjin University. SEMBP 2.0 serves as a blueprint for advancing Chinese undergraduate education innovation in the new era. First proposed in a document released by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to accelerate the construction of high-level undergraduate education, SENBP 2.0 refers to six plans to cultivate excellent engineers, doctors, talents in agriculture and forestry, teachers, legal practitioners and journalists respectively, and one project to train brilliant students in basic sciences. It is deemed as the key strategy to bolster Chinese undergraduate education from all respects. Mr. Chen Baosheng, Minister of Education and Secretary of the MOE CPC Leadership Group, and Mr. Zhang Guoqing, Mayor of Tianjin attended the meeting and delivered speeches.

The inauguration ceremony of the Six Excellence and One Brilliance Plan 2.0 (SENBP 2.0) held in the Qiushi Hall of Tianjin University

Minister Chen pointed out that as Chinese higher education was undergoing the transition from scale expansion to quality enhancement, the launching of SENBP2.0 indicated that Chinese higher education has entered a new period of development where in some fields it can meet the world’s standards.

To fully implement the plan and start a quality reform in Chinese universities, Chen urged all universities to be conscious of the fundamental task of nurturing rounded youth prepared to join the socialist cause and be more innovative and vigorous in developing four emerging disciplines. “Emerging Engineering education should cultivate talents in line with both the new concept of engineering defined by the fourth industrial revolution and its new requirements. Emerging medical education serves as the foundation to build a healthy China…. Emerging Agriculture utilizes modern technologies to guarantee a beautiful China with a habitable environment, food safety and affluent provisions.... And Emerging Art as a main embodiment of the advanced socialist culture aims to cultivate great thinkers, philosophers and sociologists in the new era, contributing to the construction of a culturally strong socialist country.” Minister Chen said.

Minister Chen Baosheng delivers a speech.

Minister Chen also proposed three measures that were essential to undergraduate education enhancement. The first one is to engage students in their studies by optimizing the curriculum, making courses reasonably challenging and guiding students to read more, think more and practice more. The second one is for teachers to improve their teaching quality by integrating education with the internet and artificial intelligence, and upholding moral education standards and innovation and entrepreneurship education. For the last measure, Chen called upon all universities to reinforce their organizational management and always bear in mind the nurture of high quality professionals by focusing resources on undergraduate programs.

Mayor Zhang Guoqing delivers the opening remarks.

Mayor Zhang Guoqing stated in the opening remarks that as the origin city of modern higher education in China with Tianjin University being the first modern University and Nankai University the first private university, Tianjin has achieved continuous progress in higher education quality in recent years. It has 56 institutes of higher education in total with 5 universities and 12 disciplines listed in the “Double First-Class” Initiative. Abiding by the guidance of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in a New Era and the national education conference, and in line with requirements set out by the MOE, Tianjin will make solid efforts to implement the SENBP 2.0 and promote the reform of undergraduate education. “It is hoped that Tianjin will be the first in realizing education modernization by 2022 and become a modern city boasting of advanced education in 2035.” Zhang noted.

Vice Education Minister Zhong Denghua hosts the conference.

The conference was hosted by Vice Education Minister Zhong Denghua and attended by officials from related ministries and provincial educational authorities and representatives from higher education institutions, etc. Representatives from eight universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University and Tianjin University and two provincial education authorities from Jiangsu and Shaanxi introduced their best practices in promoting undergraduate education quality.

Li Jiajun, the Party Secretary of Tianjin University delivers a speech.

Li Jiajun, the Party Secretary of Tianjin University delivered a speech themed “TJU’s move to lead the engineering education in the new industrial revolution era”. Li introduced the explorations Tianjin University had made in promoting the emerging engineering education. Li said that in the past ten years, complying with MOE’s requirements and focusing on both the nation’s major strategic needs and the developing trends of science and technologies, Tianjin University had strived to cultivate excellent engineers that were patriotic, innovative, capable and with a global vision and formed its own experience of engineering talent training. To promote the emerging engineering education (3E), Tianjin University established a center to carry out 3E research, trainings and exchange activities, the first of its kind in the world, and pushed for the founding of several organizations, like Tianjin Emerging Engineering Education Alliance and the International Emerging Engineering Education Alliance. “We have drawn up our own education plan in terms of 3E called Coherent-Collaborative-Interdisciplinary-Innovation (CCII). In future, we hope to form “Tianjin University Emerging Engineering Education Precept” that highlights the replicability of the education model for excellent talent cultivation nationwide.” Li Jiajun proclaimed.

The National Center for Innovation of Emerging Engineering Education based in Tianjin University is unveiled.

Additionally, the National Center for Innovation of Emerging Engineering Education based in Tianjin University has officially been unveiled by Minister Chen Baosheng and Li Jiajun, the Party Secretary of Tianjin University. The center is supposed to carry out teacher trainings and researches about 3E theories and policies.

By Eva Yin

Editor: Doris Harrington