In order to further advocate the communication and cooperation among Excellence League universities, more than 30 SFL (School of Foreign Languages) deans from nine universities met on November 16, 2015, in SEU for the first high-level forum. Chaired by the deputy dean of SFL of SEU, Prof. Zhu Shanhua, the forum centered on the topics of the implementation of ‘the twelfth Five-year Plan’ and the preparation of ‘the thirteenth Five-year Plan and exchanged ideas about the construction of foreign language disciplines, foreign language teaching and research, and the cultivation of outstanding talents.
At the opening ceremony, SEU vice president, Prof. Zheng Jiamao, extended his best wishes to the success of this forum and his deep concern for foreign language teaching and hoped that members of Excellence League universities could further enhance cooperation, share their resources so as to achieve better development. Later on, Prof. Chen Meihua, the dean of SFL，SEU and the convener of this forum expressed her warm welcome and sincere thanks to all the participants in this forum. At the end of ‘the twelfth five-year plan’ and the beginning of ‘the thirteenth five-year plan’, Prof. Chen said, different schools of foreign languages are all faced up with challenges and chances, therefore, it is of great importance that all members of Excellence League should share their experiences and wisdoms for a prosperous future of the school of foreign languages. This forum, Prof. Chen believed, will be significantly beneficial for the future of SFL of SEU, and new ideas and wisdoms from sister schools will help to bring a new phase in the development of SFL of SEU.
The forum was divided into two parts: speeches and free discussions. In their speeches, deans from different universities spoke from their own working experiences and touched upon the topics like advantage competition, discipline construction, talents cultivation and implementation of ‘the thirteenth five-year plan’. At the end of the first session of the forum, prof. Li Xiaoxiang from SFL of SEU, a ‘national outstanding teacher’, concluded that, though schools of foreign languages play a crucial role, they tend to be marginalized in universities featuring in science and engineering, therefore, joint efforts need to be made to bring their advantages into full play.
In the free discussion part, the participants contributed a lot to the issues covering the approaches of discipline construction, the model of teacher training, the current problems with the language teaching and its future trends, and the management and policy making of routine affairs, etc. The forum ended with the speech given by Dr. Ma Qiang, the party secretary of SFL, SEU, who expressed his thanks for the support from all the participants and advocated the mutual support from all the sister schools in order to share wisdoms and face the challenges together.
(Reported by Shi Dairong
Translated by Xiongsi
Translation Revised by Wu Lanxiang )
