Beijing”s new faculty semester has begun with a robust emphasis on science and innovation as native authorities roll out new programs and colleges spotlight packages designed to encourage future scientists.
According to the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, synthetic intelligence will now be a part of the overall curriculum in the entire metropolis’s greater than 1,400 main and secondary colleges, masking about 1.83 million college students. Each faculty is required to supply not less than eight class hours of AI schooling per tutorial yr, both as stand-alone programs or built-in into topics corresponding to info expertise, science and sensible actions.
The transfer comes as Beijing strengthens broader science education schemes. Most colleges opened on Thursday, a day after nationwide commemorations of the eightieth anniversary of the victory within the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
Students throughout the capital had been required by their colleges to look at the commemoration at Tian’anmen Square on TV a day earlier than their campuses opened.
At Beijing Academy, one of many metropolis’s largest faculty teams, a new campus was inaugurated in Chaoyang district on Thursday. Nobel Prize laureate Thomas Suedhof despatched a congratulatory video message to mark the event, praising college students’ creativity and urging them to organize for careers in science and expertise.
“I was truly impressed by the level of learning and the thoughtfulness of the students. Their independent thinking was quite amazing,” he stated.
He additionally welcomed the institution of a new Nobel Prize Innovation Class and inspired “more outstanding students to join the class and prepare for careers in science and technology”.
The new campus, masking greater than 13.3 hectares, will function the primary campus of the academy. Xia Qingfeng, principal of Beijing Academy, stated the long-term purpose is for all member colleges to take part within the Nobel Prize Innovation Class, with AI and superior science programs to be provided all through the group.
Zhong Yixin, former vice-president of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, delivered the primary lesson of the semester for the Beijing Academy Group.
“AI-enhanced education and stronger science courses present a tremendous opportunity to advance Chinese culture and civilization,” he stated.
Other colleges additionally spotlighted innovation throughout opening celebrations. At the Baiyang department of Hujialou Central Primary School, college students showcased robots that gained a nationwide award earlier this yr, whereas college students at its primary campus in Beijing’s central enterprise district offered an AI-powered environmental undertaking displayed at a global schooling convention in Finland in August.
The growth of recent campuses in districts corresponding to Chaoyang, Haidian, Daxing and Fangshan displays Beijing’s broader technique to stability assets and lift requirements throughout the town.
Yin Yuan, deputy district head of Chaoyang, stated the brand new Beijing Academy campus “is expected to invigorate the Dongba area, which is traditionally weaker in its educational capacity, and inject new vitality into the district”.