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Archives of Peking University News - PKU English - 北京大学

Archives of Peking University News - PKU English - 北京大学

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<strong>北京大学</strong>英语新闻网/<strong>Peking</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />

competitions and got 20 academic papers published and had three practical<br />

inventions recognized as patents.<br />

The project <strong>of</strong> Research and Practice <strong>of</strong> Team-Based Teaching led by Pr<strong>of</strong>essor<br />

Jiang Jianjun from The Electronics Department is financed by the state. Students<br />

from different disciplines involved in this project are divided into teams and<br />

encouraged to avail themselves <strong>of</strong> the Internet to conduct experiments, course<br />

designs and extracurricular exploration in cooperation. At present students enrolled<br />

in this project total over 1500 and they have compiled more than 20 academic papers<br />

and 105 research reports. Five research papers contributed by Grade 2007<br />

undergraduates have been accepted by the influential magazines such as The<br />

Journal <strong>of</strong> Functional Materials enlisted in EI or SCI.<br />

We advocate for various means and methods to cultivate innovative talents with a<br />

view <strong>of</strong> encouraging the students to give full play to their individual talents and<br />

potentials. To a great extent the innovations China is expected to make rely on this<br />

generation <strong>of</strong> college students‘ innovative awareness and capabilities. In this sense<br />

we have a long way to go.<br />

The Ideal <strong>of</strong> Higher Education<br />

Science Times: From your viewpoint which qualities should a qualified university<br />

president possess?<br />

Li Peigen: That depends. For instance, the role <strong>of</strong> the university president in Britain<br />

or the United States is different from that in China in that American presidents are<br />

concerned mostly about securing the financial input to keep their universities going<br />

whereas their Chinese counterparts are responsible for a wider range <strong>of</strong> affairs.<br />

But they share the common core value that is to my mind the college presidents must<br />

cherish an ideal <strong>of</strong> education, namely, his own conception <strong>of</strong> the college spirit and<br />

his idea about how to run the college as well as the strategies to promote the college<br />

development.<br />

In recent years impatience <strong>of</strong> success is common in the society and in HEIs as well<br />

as academia. Colleges and universities are most concerned about the allocation <strong>of</strong><br />

education fund, the total number <strong>of</strong> published papers by their faculty, the institution‘s<br />

ranking and the number <strong>of</strong> approved patents while some scholars‘ attention has<br />

switched from contemplating on research questions to getting more projects<br />

approved and applying for more research expenditure. Given such conditions to<br />

cherish an ideal <strong>of</strong> education sounds impractical and it is hard indeed to realize the<br />

ideal. But a truly prestigious university should uphold and stick to an ideal. A new<br />

round <strong>of</strong> opportunities shall favor those who distinguish themselves by being immune<br />

to the widespread impatience <strong>of</strong> success<br />

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