“The best is yet to be.” On the evening of February 26th, the 2024 Spring Faculty& Staff Meeting of ZJUI was successfully held. Academician Lee Der-Horng, Dean of ZJUI, Prof. Jin Jianming, Executive Dean of ZJUI, Prof. Ma Hao, Vice Dean of ZJUI, and Prof. Wang Hongwei, Vice Dean of ZJUI, attended the meeting. More than 60 faculty members and staff gathered together to clarify the new situation and tasks of high-quality development of the institute, and to firmly establish the goals and plan a layout for the ZJUI's development in 2024. The meeting was presided over by Prof. Wang Hongwei.
Dean Lee pointed out that new quality productivity (premium productivity) is the ultimate determinant and driving force of the sustainable development of the institute. It is necessary to accelerate the cultivation of new quality productivity, adhere to scientific research and innovation empowerment, consolidate the foundation of building Scientific and Technological Powerhouse, and serve the major strategic needs of the country. He emphasized that all the faculty members should adhere to the principle that teaching is learning, identify problems and weaknesses, clarify goals and tasks, and form a new pattern of integration and mutual promotion between teaching and research. He also expects all ZJUI faculty and staff to vigorously promote the sense of ownership and fully leverage the role of the main force to form a strong force and create a good development ecology for the institute. At the same time, he proposed to stick to the new pattern of open development led by internationalization, continuously improve the level of international education, focus on key tasks in 2024, clarify ideas and measures, muster up enthusiasm, seize development opportunities with an enterprising attitude, and systematically implement various task goals.
Dean Lee also reviewed and outlooked for some key issues such as the promotion &tenure system (P&T system) and research work and provided clear instructions. He proposed that we should construct a faculty development framework with strong local adaptability yet meeting international standards. He emphasized the significant role of the P&T system in the high-quality and sustainable development of ZJUI, and hoped that all faculty members could anchor their goals, explore and leverage their maximum advantages while focusing on improving their own abilities; Scientifically arrange plans, reasonably coordinate various tasks, and achieve organic unity and coordinated development of teaching, research, and professional services; Regular self-inspection and self-correction, and innovate educational and teaching philosophies. At the same time, he proposed the 5R theory that should be firmly established in the implementation of the P&T system building and faculty development: Refine, Reconfigure, Reinforce, Retrofit, and Rebound. This also provides an outlook for the institute's faculty development and promotion & tenure work in 2024, clarifying the work goals and ideas for the new year. He also used the metaphor of "water-sand-gravel" to analyze the underlying logic of research work in ZJUI in 2024. He pointed out that the development of research in the institute cannot be separated from the joint efforts of every faculty member, administrative staff, top talents, and industry or overseas collaborators. He also looks forward to the new year, where all parties connect and work together to promote the deep integration of industry, university, and research, accelerate the research and transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and enhance independent innovation capabilities; At the same time, we should stay small, and pay attention to gradual progress, ensure that everything is in order, and effectively stimulate research and innovation.
Prof. Jin Jianming emphasized and reminded all faculty members about complete English teaching, co-teaching, and graduate education. He emphasized the crucial role of complete English teaching in cultivating international engineering future leaders with independent innovation awareness. He hopes that all faculty members teach meticulously and rigorously, strictly implement the complete English teaching philosophy, jointly improve the quality of classroom teaching, further deepen the close cooperation with UIUC in co-teaching, and promote the further development of cooperative relationships. At the same time, he encourages the introduction of international cooperative education into graduate education, focusing on interdisciplinary training and encouraging graduate students to "go out" and communicate with students from various disciplines, broadening academic horizons, and stimulating innovative thinking.
Prof. Ma Hao mobilized all faculty members and staff for the 2024 Undergraduate Education and Teaching Review and Evaluation of Zhejiang University. Through introducing various aspects such as the evaluation schedule, evaluation type, material preparation, existing problems, and main tasks, he comprehensively deployed the evaluation work and put forward clear requirements. He emphasized that all faculty members and staff must deeply understand the key role of the new round of review and evaluation in student cultivation and high-quality development of the institute, adhere to unified understanding and deep collaboration, grasp the hotspots and key points of evaluation, further improve classroom teaching effectiveness, adhere to the lifeline of educational and teaching quality, and pool efforts to do a good job in the evaluations.
At the meeting, the heads of each internal office, based on their actual work, reported key work plans around education and teaching, student management, faculty development and promotion & tenure, teaching labs management and textbook construction, scientific research and achievement transformation, major events, and other key tasks. They analyzed the situation and proposed ideas, laying a foundation for the smooth implementation of various work in the new semester.
In 2024, all faculty members and staff will take this meeting as an opportunity to gather consensus, form joint efforts, and work together to strive for a better future and write a new chapter for the institute.
