Symposium on Optimization of Curriculum System of SPSIR successfully held

On the morning of April 10, 2022, the School of Political Science & International Relations (SPSIR) held a symposium on optimization of curriculum system both online and offline, in which 11 teachers staying in the school during the pandemic participated in the meeting offline at room 1802 of Zhonghe Building and the other 12 teachers exchanged and studied relevant topics online.

In the leading speech, Prof. Men Honghua, Dean of SPSIR, pointed out that with the overall development and deep reform of the school in recent years, we are facing new changes in the teaching situation. In this process, the school focuses on the structural optimization of the training system at the postgraduate level and on the realization of the "Double Ten Thousand Plan" at the undergraduate level, both of which are based on the further optimization of the curriculum system. Accordingly, the creation of a high-quality curriculum system around the theme of "China and the World" has become a top priority for the school. In view of this, our young and middle-aged teachers need to think deeply about the following questions: Is our curriculum system outstanding in terms of integrity, uniqueness and innovation? Is the main development concept of "governance-strategy-intellectual history" integrated into the curriculum? What are the teaching attitude, competence and evaluation of the faculty? The internal discussion on related issues is, indeed, not only a must for the school to enter a new era of development, but also a prerequisite for the construction of a first-class school of political science. Based on this, Dean Men encouraged the faculty members who are well received by students to offer advice and suggestions on optimizing the curriculum system, and to explore what they can contribute to the school in terms of creating high-quality major courses and offering high-quality general courses.

Prof. Zhong Zhenming, the associate dean in charge of undergraduate teaching work, gave a presentation about the background of the symposium. He said that the optimization of curriculum system concerns the continuous revision of the training program of the political science discipline, which is at the core of talent cultivation at SPSIR. This meeting is held to study and discuss the major courses, general elective courses and practice courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and to put forward constructive opinions for and make personal contributions to the continuous optimization of the school’s curriculum system, so as to better cultivate talents that can meet the major strategic needs of the country, and create a high-quality curriculum system with the theme of "China and the World" and a core general education curriculum system with the hallmark of SPSIR. All this is done to pave the way for the subsequent revision of the undergraduate and postgraduate training programs and the application for high-quality courses at all levels.

After that, relevant department heads and discipline leaders of the school made special speeches to introduce their own curriculum optimization plan, and put forward targeted proposals on the curriculum construction according to the dynamic adjustment of disciplines and majors. Then, other participating teachers shared their personal planning on the adjustment of curriculum system, improvement of major courses, and provision of general courses based on their own research and teaching experience. In the meantime, the participating teachers generally expressed that they would fully support the school's overall arrangements for curriculum construction, and that full-time teachers should support the school's curriculum system with good quality of teaching, rather than demanding the school's curriculum system to meet their personal needs. In this process, teachers should integrate their personal teaching design into the construction of high-quality courses at the school and actively assist the school in building a better curriculum system and teaching materials system.

Dean Men commented on the speeches of all participating teachers one by one and expressed positive praise and affirmation. In the summary of the meeting, he pointed out that, towards a first-class school, SPSIR will continue to have in-depth talks with the heads of each department, and make a list of achievements of high-quality courses and teaching materials according to the personal plans put forward by the participating teachers to form a curriculum and teaching materials system with SPSIR characteristics, so as to lay a solid foundation for building first-class majors and disciplines by leaps and bounds.