President Liu Xiangrong Furthers his Study and Research in America

For a half month between October 23th and November 8th, our president was not on campus. Where was he? Yeah, he was receiving training in Teachers College (TC) of Columbia University in the City of New York, under a special study and training program organized by Ministry of Education.

Set on the Islet of Manhattan in New York City, TC of Columbia University is the world leading graduate school of education, renowned throughout the world for its programs in pedagogy, applied psychology in education and cognitive studies in education. Liu Xiangrong and other members in this study and research class first had some American teachers lectures and speeches in education system, policy, developmental history, and current situation, which were followed by heated discussion and communication at a deeper level. Then they paid visits to such institutions as ColumbiaUniversity and New YorkUniversity, as well as middle schools, primary schools and kindergartens in their inspection on education condition in America.

This Overseas Training Program for University Leaders, the first of its kind organized by Ministry of Education, with an aim of learning educational philosophy and experience from developed countries to facilitate the reform and development in higher education of China, was attended by more than 18 presidents and chairpersons of normal universities.

Modern education development in China owes a lot to TC. Statistics had it that, only in the first half of 20^th century, there were about 1,000 students from China receiving education and training in TC. Guo Bingwen, the founding president of SoutheastUniversity, was the first Education Doctor in China after his graduation from TC in 1914. Since then, more and more Chinese graduates from TC returned to China and started to work as pioneers and founding fathers in political, culture, and education causes. Among them, Hu Shi, a master in Chinese culture, Tao Xingzhi, an educationist devoted to his people, Chen Heqin, the founding father of preschool education, Jiang Mengling, the former president of PekingUniversity, as well as Li Huamei, the founding mother of 21^st century English Education in China, were all elites in modern Chinese education.