USTB Hosts 2019 International Symposium on Student Affairs
Release Time: 2019-11-14Views:
The 2019 International Symposium on Student Affairs, which was convened to focus on topics including professional development & international collaboration, was held at the University of Science and Technology Beijing from November 7th to the 8th. Those distinguished guests who were present at the opening ceremony included: Mr. YU Yadong, the General-director from the Department of Moral Education, Ministry of Education, P.R.C.; Prof. FENG Gang, Chairman of the Academic Committee of the Moral Education Research Branch from the Higher Education Association of the P.R.C.; Mr. DI Tao, Deputy Party Secretary from the Education Commission of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality; Prof. QUAN Liangzhu, Vice Chancellor of the University of Science and Technology Beijing; and Prof. WANG Zhanren, Vice President of Northeast Normal University.
Also in attendance were 14 foreign experts representing 5 nationalities including Dr. Doug Hallenbeck, Vice President of Student Affairs at Oklahoma State University, USA; Dr. Panida Sukseemuang, Vice President of Student Development at Prince Songkla University, Thailand; Dr. Ky Le, University of Dong Nai, Vietnam; and Dr. Edgar Apanecatl-Ibarra, Ibero-American University Puebla, Mexico.
More than 100 scholars, student affairs practitioners and PhD students from 40 different universities participated in the symposium. Representative universities from China included Tsinghua University, Peking University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University, Northeast Normal University, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and the University of Science and Technology Beijing. The symposium was hosted by USTB, and jointly organized by the Student Affairs Research Center, USTB, and the editorial department of Studies in Ideological Education . The opening ceremony of the conference was presided over by Ms. DUAN Xiaofang, Secretary of the Party General Branch of the School of Marxism Studies, USTB.
On behalf of USTB, Prof. QUAN Liangzhu delivered a welcome speech to the participants of the symposium. He spoke of trends in the internationalization of higher education and how USTB, in line with the national “Belt & Road Initiative”, had sought to deepen the quality of its international exchange activities as well as focus on developing its student affairs management work.
Dr. Doug Hallenbeck of OSU then spoke before the assemblage. He highly praised the cooperation between OSU and USTB and expressed his belief that the two universities have broad prospects for future cooperation in the field of student affairs management. He concluded by saying that he looked forward to more opportunities to engage in international exchange with Chinese universities in the future.
Mr. DI Tao spoke of the value of international expertise and encouraged foreign experts and scholars to come to Chinese universities to help in their development and internationalization efforts, promote greater global cooperation, and contribute to the work of student affairs management.
Mr. YU Yadong remarked that the symposium served as a platform for mainland universities to strengthen their cooperative efforts with foreign universities. He continued by expounding on its role in expanding the vision and professional development of student affairs practitioners, while strengthening international joint research ventures.
Throughout the symposium there were 22 keynote speeches touching upon various areas of student affairs management in higher education, including topics on innovation and entrepreneurship education, leadership, practitioner training and development, the use of internet and youth education, international comparative study on student affairs, emerging global issues in the field, and the development of student affairs work in 'Belt and Road Initiative’ partner countries.
This was the third time for USTB to host the International Symposium on Student Affairs. The participants showed great interest in discussing both the theory and practice of student affairs management. The symposium aims to provide a platform for domestic and foreign researchers and student affairs practitioners to improve the professional development and internationalization of student affairs administration.
