As rising applied sciences reshape industries within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, establishments of upper studying — the cradle of nurturing talent — are embracing the development with progressive academic fashions.
With the brand new semester kicking off this month, many college students have begun their tertiary schooling at universities with new programs, or faculties with novel coaching strategies, aiming to drive industrial innovation and financial revolution.
“New engineering”, which goals to empower industries with rising applied sciences, has emerged as an important path ahead for universities.
Among 113 new undergraduate programs launched by universities in Guangdong province this 12 months, about half are engineering majors — a major enhance from earlier years.
Given synthetic intelligence”s large potential to combine with industries, eight Guangdong universities have added AI packages, together with some recognized for their strengths in liberal arts.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, has arrange a college of AI, whereas one other faculty that integrates AI and liberal arts was launched by Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University in Zhuhai.
Taking heart stage on this 12 months’s tech panorama, the robotics sector is forging forward at a powerful tempo. The University of Hong Kong (HKU), the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) and Great Bay University in Dongguan have added, or plan to supply, associated packages.
The low-altitude economic system, primed for takeoff, is about to attract vital talent demand. This 12 months, the Ministry of Education has authorized low-altitude expertise and engineering undergraduate packages, with greater than 120 universities nationwide making use of — the very best amongst all fields.
South China University of Technology in Guangzhou is among the many first six tertiary schooling establishments on the Chinese mainland to have rolled out the key, whereas 9 different Guangdong universities have utilized so as to add associated programs.
Other highlights of the Greater Bay Area’s newly launched programs embody quite a lot of good manufacturing packages, together with specialised research launched by Huizhou, Zhaoqing and Dongguan that align with regional trade planning like power storage, new power autos, and the subsequent era of digital info expertise.
Rethinking college schooling
Against the backdrop of financial structural transformation, universities nationwide are experiencing unprecedented adjustments of their curriculum. Last 12 months, over 5,000 undergraduate packages have been adjusted, and a few 20 % of disciplines are anticipated to be optimized this 12 months.
“These years are the most dramatic phase of technology’s effect on society that we’ve seen in our lifetime,” says Han Wei, co-director of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Data Center for Higher Education. “Criticized for being ‘disconnected’ with society’s needs, universities are reforming themselves to cultivate more competent talents.”
They should transfer with the instances, she says, urging universities to prioritize constructing a information framework for undergraduates and organize deeper analysis in graduate or doctoral research.
In her view, universities mustn’t comply with tendencies blindly, however have to construct new disciplines based mostly on present strengths and guarantee their high quality.
As contemporary programs turn into extra in style, Han says college students should concentrate on the lag in tutorial program improvement, in comparison with the shifts in industries. While the job market may even see adjustments over 4 years of research, college students needs to be cautious in selecting topics.
Amid the tide of reform, a brand new kind of research-oriented universities are on the rise, that includes small, but specialised packages with a level of openness and progressive academic fashions. They additionally prioritize the necessity to serve rising industries of strategic significance, in addition to future companies.
Within the Greater Bay Area, Great Bay University, which begins working this 12 months, and Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology, established final 12 months, are notable representatives.
Both establishments deal with science and engineering majors and have admitted a restricted variety of college students. Their purpose is to domesticate high talent by concentrating on high-quality sources, thereby taking the lead in technological and industrial improvement.
Great Bay University goals to leverage sources from different universities in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and the Hong Kong and Macao particular administrative areas to advertise the mixing of upper schooling within the 11-city cluster. Geared to recruiting high-quality college students, each universities have set their admission standards to be on par with these of high Guangdong tertiary seats of studying.
Han says these establishments are impressed by Shenzhen’s Southern University of Science and Technology which has been spearheading China’s greater schooling reform over the previous decade. Despite their quick existence, they shoulder excessive expectations to produce progressive abilities to important industries, and entice high-caliber professionals to drive regional tech prowess.
Besides Guangdong, related universities have gone up in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.
Ronald Chan Kam-wan, founding chairman of the GBA Education Integrative Development Think Tank, believes that these faculties will likely be extraordinarily necessary forces within the nation’s greater schooling panorama.
Compared to conventional high universities, they could get pleasure from better benefits in attracting high professors from abroad, with a extra open analysis setting and better emphasis on worldwide exchanges. “Future stars in scientific research may not necessarily be from Tsinghua University or Peking University. Once a top-notch professorial team is assembled, these newcomers are poised to experience a meteoric rise,” says Chan.
The breakthroughs in rising industries rely closely on interdisciplinary information, which is essential to inspiring innovation and addressing intricate scientific challenges, thus elevating the emphasis on creating composite abilities.
At current, interdisciplinary research at Guangdong universities primarily deal with inner crossovers in engineering fields like clever manufacturing. In distinction, Hong Kong universities exhibit a broader spectrum of interdisciplinary fusion, incorporating areas that embody enterprise and expertise, arts and sciences, and leveraging AI to reinforce conventional service industries like hospitality administration.
Integrating talent and trade
In phrases of educating fashions, some Guangdong universities have carried out small-scale progressive coaching via experimental courses in engineering sectors, whereas Hong Kong universities undertake extra versatile approaches. The School of Innovation arrange by HKU started enrolling college students this 12 months, that includes entrepreneurship initiatives to assist them flip their enterprise concepts into actuality.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has launched seven new units of interdisciplinary packages, permitting college students to discover varied associated programs of their first 12 months and select a serious later. In specific, college students enrolled in Interdisciplinary Studies can be taught programs of various schools earlier than deciding the key.
PolyU additionally requires all undergraduate college students to finish programs in AI and knowledge evaluation, in addition to innovation and entrepreneurship, to amass the cutting-edge expertise and mindset important for them to excel within the fashionable technological setting.
Victor Kwok, deputy director of analysis at Our Hong Kong Foundation, says such an interdisciplinary strategy helps the cultivation of main entrepreneurs who can push the general improvement of trade ecosystems. It additionally displays international academic tendencies and the calls for of commercial development, as distinctive entrepreneurs have to possess a mix of information, particularly in product improvement and enterprise operations.
According to Kwok, some Hong Kong universities have adopted extra artistic approaches by permitting college students with a spirit of exploration to review their very own combos of topics earlier than commencement with out deciding on particular majors.
With better autonomy in faculties’ operations and a better stage of internationalization, he believes Hong Kong universities are extra able to creating high-quality interdisciplinary packages and different progressive talent cultivation strategies.
Kwok notes that rising geopolitical tensions between China and the United States have led to an inflow of remarkable professors and college students into the SAR. He stated he hopes that Hong Kong universities might seize the chance to advance greater schooling improvement, whereas broadening their worldwide scope and leveraging town’s new improvement blueprint to deal with the shortcomings in industrial transformation.
The HKSAR authorities’s flagship venture of the Northern Metropolis goals to determine a technological metropolis, a college city, and lure a major variety of high-tech enterprises. Together with the close by Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone, the northern New Territories is anticipated to turn into a key level for integrating expertise, schooling and industries within the Greater Bay Area.
Emphasizing the realm’s essential position, Chan stated he hopes to see deeper collaboration amongst Hong Kong universities and Shenzhen industries, smoother cross-boundary circulation of scientific and technological sources, and extra academic belongings from Macao and abroad being launched.
To higher unlock the potential of budding universities and educating strategies on the mainland, Han stated she believes they need to keep the open mindset and progressive mechanisms, construct up their potential to function independently and make rational and efficient innovation inside the present system.
As the development is to prioritize science and engineering schooling, she calls for vigilance towards the neglect of liberal arts improvement, stressing the topics’ position in cultivating complete abilities.
In addition, Han urged that these new explorations by universities should play their half in cultivating talent. “All research results and technological transfer outcomes are meant to be fed back into education, helping students to better understand cutting-edge knowledge and latest industry trends. This is the original intention and mission universities should uphold.”
Zhou Mo contributed to this story.
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