Upon the invitation of the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (preparatory, SIAT), Rector Jun Liu of the City University of Macau (CityU Macau) attended the “Symposium on Accelerating the Development of High-level Research Universities in the New Era” commissioned by Shenzhen Education Bureau and organized by SIAT on 29 July in Shenzhen. Rector Liu delivered a keynote speech on “Diversification of Universities, Concerted Efforts to Develop Greater Bay Area”.
The Symposium was held both online and offline in the forms of keynote speech and roundtable discussion. A number of renowned experts from home and abroad on higher education were invited to discuss a “Shenzhen approach” for building high-level research universities. Chen Zhifeng, member of the Party team and Deputy Director of the Shenzhen Education Bureau, Fan Jianping, Director of the Preparatory Office of SIAT and Director of SIAT, attended and spoke at the event.
At the Symposium, Rector Jun Liu shared cases of diversification of universities and put forward recommendations on the development and cooperation of higher institutions in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. He pointed out that as demonstrated by overseas’ experience of developing higher institutions, it was first and foremost for the positioning of universities to be identified if diversification of universities was to be achieved. Then, mutual support between regional systems and between universities were required in the area of talent cultivation and flexible arrangements, such as mutual credit recognition, should be adopted to avoid “sealing one’s fate with one university”. In addition, universities should forge demand-led regional cooperation based to ensure the quality of talent.
With respect to the diversification of higher institutions in the Greater Bay Area, Rector Jun Liu believed that it was necessary to grasp with the challenges universities were faced with in their current development and the first thing to do was to ensure that universities could conduct more deeper cooperation within a regulated framework defined by laws, regulations and policies. Also, the advantages of the governance system of higher institutions should be established and each university should have its unique characteristics and be independent. Lastly, he shared his views based on his academic background and pointed out that the new type of research university should place emphasis on not only engineering and science programs but also humanities and social sciences programs. Only by combining engineering and science programs with humanities and social sciences programs would a new type of diversified universities be developed.
At the roundtable discussion, Rector Jun Liu said that talent cultivation was a major responsibility of the new type of research university and in addition to attracting more international talent, it was important to encourage the talent teams more and pose more challenges. He hoped that SIAT would nurture more high-end, diversified international talent for the country.
Other scholars who attended the symposium included Lin Jianhua, member of the Standing Committee and Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress and President Emeritus of Peking University, Ni Mingxuan, founding principal of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Zhong Binglin, President Emeritus of Beijing Normal University, Tang Tao, President of Beijing Normal University – Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, Zhang Dongxiao, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Southern University of Science and Technology, Li Xuejin, Associate Vice President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong etc.
