Q&A 2019.10.11 Chinese Academy of Sciences celebrates its birthday. How does the "Century Principal" turn into educational changes and welcome the new century? "Make sure to make Nankai prosperous with famous Western schools in the east and west." How should the ambition of the p

2025/05/0312:03:37 hotcomm 1550

Q&A

Shenzhou

019.10.11

century school for the birthday of the school

How "the principal of the century" can make educational changes and welcome the new century?

"Make sure to make Nankai and be prosperous with famous Western schools in the east and west."

How should the ambition of the former gentleman, Nankai today be fulfilled?

Competition for Chinese universities is fierce

How can comprehensive universities demonstrate their school characteristics?

"Accommodation, fairness, change with each passing day"

" Q&A Shenzhou " exclusive interview Nankai University President Cao Xuetao Previous episode

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Nankai patriotic soul

As early as September 1935, at the opening ceremony of Nankai University, the president Zhang Boling once issued a "patriotic three questions" to the new and old Nankai people: "Are you Chinese? Do you love China? Are you willing to China? "Presentative Zhou Enlai, who is also a "Nankai people", gave the most sincere answer with all his passion.

On October 1, 2019, a military parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China was held in Beijing. This military parade also once again ignited the patriotic enthusiasm of the Chinese. Premier Zhou Enlai's photos once again flooded the Internet: "This prosperous era is as you wish."

In October 2019, Nankai University celebrated its 100th birthday. How did the "historical question" in the past ask each other from generation to generation to become "the question of the times and the question of the future"? At the turn of the century at this institution, what kind of thinking would the principal Cao Xuetao think about the next century in Nankai?

Wu Xiaoli: Behind us is the image of Mr. Zhang Boling, the founder of our Nankai University.

Cao Xuetao : I feel that Principal Zhang and I have a magical power. I was in the Military Medical University and was born in the army for 30 years. The environment of military academy and military camps has also cultivated my culture rooted in my bloodline. During the process of founding Nankai University and building Nankai University, Mr. Zhang has also been deeply involved in all aspects of the educational concept of cultivating the educational concept of having the heart to serve the country and having the talent to serve the country. So I feel that in these aspects, I think there are indeed many supernatural powers with the old principal.

Cao Xuetao: At the opening ceremony, I reviewed the "three questions about patriotism" of old principal Zhang Boling with the students. This is to hope that freshmen can feel the tradition of Nankai in the first lesson of their admission. I think the most core element in Nankai’s education tradition is patriotism. Patriotism education has always been rooted in all teaching links and processes in Nankai. Therefore, students should feel that this is a university with all backgrounds and a university with patriotic traditions as their core values. When the students and teachers answered "yes", "love" and "will" in unison, we also act as a baptism.

Wu Xiaoli: Does feel that the whole body is boiling?

Cao Xuetao: That of course. That feeling of blood rushing, that sense of responsibility as a teacher. In addition to the sense of responsibility for Chinese education, it arises naturally.

"President of the Century" helmed the "Century-old Nankai"

Before he became the president of Nankai University, Cao Xuetao was the president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College . Some people laughed and said: Cao Xuetao is a "President of the Century". From the last century-old institution to the next university that is about to be a hundred years old, he serves as the president. However, what is more concerned about the outside world is: how will this principal, who has only managed medical schools in the past, debug and change his mind and take the helm of Nankai, a highly comprehensive institution?

Wu Xiaoli: You used to train students in medicine. Now, you go to an comprehensive university to be the principal. This may be a new topic. Just like you said, you are learning too.

Cao Xuetao: I want to be a real Nankai person, because Nankai is a bright business card in the higher education community and represents a model of Chinese patriotic education. When I entered Nankai Park, I became a Nankai native and integrated with Nankai teachers. I think this is my professional requirement and I must follow my own path.

Wu Xiaoli: Although Nankai is a comprehensive university, it also has its strengths and weaknesses. What do you think Nankai will focus on how to meet the country's scientific and technological research requirements in the next fifteen years at this stage?

Cao Xuetao: A university has strengths and weaknesses. How to clearly understand your own weak links and how to inherit and carry forward this relationship between superior disciplines is a question that universities must consider. I think the shortcomings of Nankai University, frankly speaking, are still a certain way away from the standards of a first-class international university.

Wu Xiaoli: Are there any disciplines like you said that are future and trendy, and we may overtake on the curve?

Cao Xuetao: These are what we are thinking about. Especially big data science, including artificial intelligence, the preparation of new materials, energy storage and conversion, these important fields and disciplines are what we are thinking about now. Last year we established three colleges, and now we have 26 colleges, of which the three new colleges are the School of Artificial Intelligence, Nankai University, Nankai University School of Cyberspace Security, and Nankai University School of Statistics and Data Science. You can see that this is set up based on the frontier and trend of discipline development and combined with the major needs of the country. So on the one hand, we must consolidate our original advantageous disciplines, and we must innovate and develop some new disciplines and layouts.

"Interdisciplinary Road" How to go

The so-called "4211 Excellence Nankai Action Plan" is a discipline construction idea proposed by Cao Xuetao in order to accelerate the construction of "Double First-Class".

When naming "4211", Cao Xuetao attaches great importance to the words "excellence" and "action".

Wu Xiaoli: I remember President Gong Ke once said that Nankai University is a comprehensive university with strong abilities. However, how to highlight Nankai's characteristics or strengths is actually a difficult problem. How do you plan to break the situation where everything in comprehensive universities is available but the level may be relatively average?

Cao Xuetao: President Gong Ke is a good principal who I respect very much and has an educator. After I took the baton from him, I was also thinking about what the development path of Nankai University is. Especially as a comprehensive university, Nankai has insisted on not expanding enrollment in the past process of running schools and managing schools, which makes it not very advantageous in quality and skills. But Nankai has its tradition, and we must continue to carry forward and maintain the advantageous disciplines. After investigation, we will retain the advantageous disciplines of Nankai University, but in the cutting-edge new disciplines, including the cross-integration of disciplines, especially in the cross-integration of liberal arts, science and engineering, we will make some arrangements and actions. This is also the intersection science center we are working on in the "4211 Excellence Nankai" Action Plan.

Wu Xiaoli: In June 2019, Nankai University and Oxford University signed a memorandum of cooperation. Did these professors of life sciences and medicine from Oxford come to Nankai invite you, did you invite you, or did they take the initiative?

Cao Xuetao: In fact, professors at Oxford University have been paying attention to the development of China's science and technology. Nankai University, as a well-known university at home and abroad, has also been paying attention. After I went to work in Nankai, they were also paying attention to the development of Nankai University, so we can say it is two-way. I think the goals and starting points of cooperation with comprehensive universities and a medical college are different. Cooperation on UnionPay’s platform focuses more on the analysis of the nature of medicine, but cooperation with comprehensive universities focuses on breakthroughs in interdisciplinary disciplines. Therefore, win-win cooperation is a prerequisite for cooperation between the two schools.

Wu Xiaoli: Interdisciplinary subjects are very critical, but our cake is so big, and this cake may include talents, resources, and funds. For example, now it seems that engineering or science is also encouraged to apply for some special funds for liberal arts. Will this cause competition among disciplines, and even some of the original strengths become weaknesses?

Cao Xuetao: Competition produces vitality.As long as there is competition, there must be a fair selection system. Fair selection can make excellent disciplines or excellent cross-teams emerge, and I think this can reject mediocrity. A fair selection system can enable outstanding people to obtain more resources. On the one hand, we must consider the balance of disciplines, but we must pay more attention to the peaks and plateaus of disciplines. Therefore, in the interdisciplinary field, we must concentrate our advantageous resources to support several teams or individuals that can create new growth points and new discipline peaks in the discipline. I also hope that they can truly make a difference in their support, create something, and produce the original results we expect.