Source: Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities
Written by: General Education Division
Translated by: Wang Chun

On November 9th and 10th, the 2012 Fall Semester General Education Core Curriculum Teacher Training and Exchange Meeting, jointly organized by General Education Division and University Dean’s office, was held successfully. Executive Deputy Secretary and Vice President Chen Chunsheng, teaching supervisors of schools and departments, and more than 100 teachers of general core curricula attended the training meeting. The meeting was presided over by Professor Gan Yang, Supervisor of General Education Division.
　　　
Professor Gan Yang explained the purpose of holding the meeting in each semester and answered the questions raised by teachers at the meeting. Professor Xia Beicheng from School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Associate Professor Xie Shi from Department of History, Associate Professor Zhuo Ou from Lingnan College, Professor Wang Xiaobing from Department of Chinese and Dr. Hu Jinyin from Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities delivered keynote speeches respectively.
　　　
Executive Deputy Secretary and Vice President Chen Chunsheng delivered concluding remarks. He indicated that, after 4 years of hard work, SYSU has built a good faculty team and curriculum system for general education; the next step is to think seriously about how we could construct each course well from the aspects of teaching material, teaching plan, teaching program and classroom teaching, etc. So far it is the most difficult challenge for undergraduate teaching of higher education throughout China and it is also an area where we are lagging behind famous overseas universities. In terms of the orientation of general education, besides broadening students’ scope of knowledge, improving their taste and culture, and developing personal interest, general education can help students acquire knowledge beyond the gain and loss of personal interest and daily life experience, so that we can change the situation of eagerness for quick success and instant benefits and lack of ambitions among some teachers and students. Moreover, in terms of how to treat students, teachers should never regard students as consumers, and even if students are not interested in the curriculum, teachers should think of their own responsibilities. Improving academic content of the curriculum is greatly beneficial to the curriculum itself and the teacher’s reputation. Chen Chunsheng finally stressed that the most central and pivotal aspect of “putting our minds and hearts to students, teaching and academic research” is “our minds and hearts”. Teachers should truly put their minds and hearts to students, and students should put their minds and hearts to learning and academic studies, because nothing can be achieved without catching the minds and hearts.
　　　
The two-day training and exchange meeting strengthened the teacher training system and played a positive role in improving the teaching quality of general education core curriculum.