Conference scene (Photo by Chen Manzhu)

LNU Press Center News: On July 6, the 2018 Cross-Strait Normal University Presidents’ Forum jointly sponsored by Lingnan Normal University (LNU), Taiwan Normal Education Association and Taiwan University of Education was held in Zhanjiang. More than 70 university presidents, experts and professors from over 20 colleges and universities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait gathered in our school to discuss the revitalization of teachers' education and the institutional reform and innovation of normal colleges and universities.

Liu Minggui, the Party Secretary and President of LNU, Professor Wu Qingji, President of Taiwan University of Education and former President of Taiwan Normal Education Association, Zheng Wen, Director of the Higher Education Department of the Education Department of Guangdong Province, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony. Huang Wei, Vice President of LNU, presided over the opening ceremony.

"Guangdong province has put forward a new strategy of 'New Normal Schools' construction, which is not only a new opportunity for the development of normal colleges and universities in Guangdong, but also a new opportunity for deepening educational exchanges and cooperation between teachers across the Taiwan Strait." Liu Minggui pointed out that both sides of the Strait are facing challenges and opportunities on the issue of teachers' education. At present, the country is becoming more and more prosperous and Chinese people are working together to build the Chinese Dream; under this background, it is of great significance to hold the President Forum of Cross-Strait Normal Universities to discuss the revitalization strategy of teachers' education together. While steadily advancing the construction of "Double First-class", Guangdong has also introduced new strategies or policies, such as the joint construction of local colleges and universities by provinces and cities, the construction of "New Normal Schools", and the "Striving for First-class, Strengthening Weak Links and Enhancing Characteristics" of colleges and universities in the province, which have brought rare policy opportunities to local colleges and universities.

According to Liu Minggui, the institutional reform and innovation as well as the improvement of the organizational vitality and operational efficiency of normal universities are undoubtedly the organizational guarantee to improve the education and teaching productivity of the universities. LNU has seized the opportunity of "New Normal Schools" construction in Guangdong and adhered to the school-running orientation of sticking to the nature of being a normal university, the teaching model, the local gender and the application-oriented feature to promote the implementation of the "six major projects" and the comprehensive target performance management reform and logistics socialization reform, seek collaborative development, meet social demands, serve the local economy and create our own education brand.

From Wu Qingji's point of view, a country must pay attention to teachers' education before it can prosper. Facing the opportunities and challenges of the era of industry 4.0 and education 4.0, the focus of teacher and education reform is to improve the basic core quality of teachers. After the diversification of teacher training, it is an urgent task for normal colleges and universities to cultivate high-quality teachers. The "New Normal School" construction launched by Guangdong just meets the needs of the situation. In his opinion, the cultivation of high-quality teachers in the future should establish the "UGSS" co-cultivation mode, and give full play to the synergistic role of universities, governments, professional education organizations and primary and secondary schools.

"The weakening of teachers' education in normal colleges and universities and the incompatibility between the cultivation structure, level and quantity of normal university students and the development needs of education are the prominent problems of teacher and education issues currently." Zheng Wen, Director of the Higher Education Department of the Education Department of Guangdong Province, introduced that Guangdong has taken the lead in promoting the construction of "New Normal Schools" nationwide by clarifying the orientation of normal colleges and universities, establishing the national teacher and education innovation experimental zone, implementing the training plan of government-funded oriented normal university students and "excellent teacher training plan" and initiating the professional accreditation of normal schools, etc.

Fifteen presidents and experts and scholars delivered wonderful speeches with novel views, including Wu Qingji, Huang Wei, Vice President Li Min from China West Normal University, Vice President Liu Yingwei from National Pingtung University, Lu Xiaozhong, Dean of the School of Education of South China Normal University, Huang Xiushuang, former President of National University of Tainan, Huang Jiali, Secretary-general of Taiwan Normal Education Association, Lan Yanze, Vice President of LNU, Yang Siwei, chair professor and Dean of the School of Humanities of Nanhua University, Wang Zhuohua, President of Yulin Normal University, Wu Wudian, distinguished professor of LNU and Li Jun, President of Xinyang Normal University.

Experts on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are concerned about the following issues: the cultivation mode and development trend of future teachers’ education, the change of school-running model of normal education, the reform and development of local normal universities, the reform and exploration of new growth paths for middle school teachers, the university governance, the professional development of teachers and so on. They further discussed the development issue of teachers' education.

This forum is a one-day event with short time and tight schedule. Some high-level experts participated in the forum, which had gained support from Guangdong Education Department, Taiwan Normal Education Association and Collaborative Innovation and Development Center for Teachers' education in Guangdong and Taiwan. The views put forward on the forum have broad vision and strong pertinence, which will play an important role in strengthening the exchanges between normal colleges and universities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and promote the cross-Strait emotional exchanges. It is a wonderful event for the exchanges of teachers' education.

An expert is delivering a speech (Photo by Chen Manzhu)

Exchange gifts (Photo is provided by Institute for Studies in Education)