On 29th March, 2013, The Sino-British College, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (SBC) and 7 key high schools across China held a joint press conference to announce their formal cooperation in student recruitment, sharing of educational resources and academic communication and collaboration. At the press conference, SBC officially recognized these 7 high schools as forming ‘Key National Bases for Talented High School Graduates’, which will allow the college to offer outstanding Chinese high school graduates more and diverse Higher Education study options as well as to select talents for SBC and its 9 leading UK partner universities. ‘The Sheffield Programme Scholarship Scheme’ has also been set up, specifically to offer qualified candidates from these 7 high schools positions on the Sheffield Business & Management Degree Programme (BA) at the SBC. Meanwhile, all parties have also announced cooperative initiatives to share educational resources and drive on academic communication and collaboration between Primary Education and Higher Education, involving top Chinese High Schools and Universities from both China and Britain.
Representatives who attended at the Press Conference included: Professor Ian Gow OBE, CEO and Principal of SBC, Professor Shang Ke; Headmaster of Hangzhou No. 1 High School, Zhejiang Province; Professor He Dongtao, Party Secretary of Hangzhou No. 2 High School, Zhejiang Province; Professor Yin Liping, Affiliated High School of Hangzhou Normal University, Zhejiang Province; Professor Zhang Yue, Deputy Headmaster of Ningbo Xiaoshi High School, Zhejiang Province,; Director Weng Deqiang, Director of Teaching Department of Nanjing Jinling High School, Jiangsu Province; Professor Wu Guofeng, Deputy Headmaster of Hexi Campus of Nanjing Jinling High School, Jiangsu Province and Professor Liu Yali, Headmaster of Xi’an Tangnan High School, Shaanxi Province. Meanwhile, two special guests attended the press conference in Mr. Xia Wen, Director of GK Admissions Office at the Ningbo Education & Exam Institute and Mr. Zhou Guojun, Director of GK Admissions Office of Shaoxing Education & Exam Institute.
SBC is an international university college, jointly established by the University of Shanghai for Science & Technology (USST) and 9 leading British Universities, including the University of Leeds and the University of Sheffield. SBC became a fully licensed university college in 2006. It is the only higher education institution to have been awarded a license by the Chinese Ministry of Education to offer full degree programmes to multiple overseas universities (the so-called "1 to N Model"). These programmes are taught entirely at the Shanghai campus, or with a period of study abroad. Graduates are awarded degrees from one of the partner British institutions.
Ever since its foundation in 2006, SBC has been committed to optimizing its student evaluation and admissions’ system as well as to improving student quality. SBC’s current student evaluation and admissions’ system integrates practices from both British Universities and Chinese Universities and Colleges in its examination procedure and evaluative criteria. The system is focused on selecting outstanding Chinese high school graduates excelling in five major aspects – academic capability, subject knowledge structure, mentality, English language proficiency and motivation for international education. Whilst maintaining its emphasis on the overall model, the SBC has continuously worked to focus more on the criteria of Chinese National Entrance Exam for University & College (Gaokao). As part of a new Gaokao Quota recruitment initiative, the SBC started to recruit students from GK Tier 1 category in 2009. Meanwhile, for its independent entry (Non Gaokao Quota) recruitment, Gaokao criteria have been set as Tier 1 only for Sheffield BA Business & Management Degree programme, jointly offered by the University of Sheffield and SBC, since 2011.
The University of Sheffield is one of the highest ranking among all the British Universities to have set up Joint-Venture practices with Chinese universities. The major purpose of this collaboration in offering this BA programme to Chinese high school graduates is to grow globally competent business talent. It is hoped that, by that leveraging academic and business resources in Sheffield and Shanghai, the programme will be able to prepare its graduates to compete internationally, with a strong global outlook, whilst also focussing on the Chinese market. The programme offers a great opportunity to outstanding Chinese high school graduates to do an undergraduate degree course with a world leading university in China. From 2011 until the present day, precisely 120 students have enrolled in two cohorts to this programme, with 70% of these coming from the previously mentioned key high schools in Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces. Not only have all of them have achieved Gaokao Tier 1, but all have impressed the SBC Entrance Exam Board through their solid grasp of English, innovative thinking and strong motivation to pursue their Higher Educational study and future success on a global platform.
These students’ outstanding academic performance reflects their background and the ways in which they have been taught and prepared for future education in their high schools. This has doubtless been a major drive for cooperation between SBC and these 7 high schools. The press conference of 29th was the first time for us to announce collaboratively this cooperation and to elaborate where and how we are going to sustain our cooperation. At the press conference, SBC officially recognized these schools as ‘Key National Bases for Talented High School Graduates’ for the college. ‘The Sheffield Scholarship Scheme’ also announced that it will offer up to RMB 320,000 to outstanding graduates from any of these 7 schools who have qualified and enrolled to the Sheffield BA Business & Management degree programme at SBC. Moreover, all parties expressed their determination to explore cooperation in educational resource sharing and academic collaboration, with teaching in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) already agreed as two major areas. These two fit exactly with SBC’s strength in English language teaching resources as well as each high schools’ needs in teaching development. It was agreed that cooperation will continue to expand into areas of students’ careers planning and development and students’ level of communication and collaboration through students’ clubs and societies.
Professor Ian Gow was appointed CEO and Principal of SBC on 1st January 2009. From 2003 to 2007, he was Provost (Executive President) and CEO of the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China – China’s first independent foreign university campus under 2003 legislation. With his strong interest and significant experience in the Sino-British educational cooperation, Professor Gow is very glad to drive forward cooperation between SBC and high schools – 'Jointly established by 10 Universities in China and UK, SBC is committed to bringing in the best practice of British Higher Education to grow globally competent talents in the context of China’s internationalization. As a young and pioneer JV university college, it is equally essential to always keep a global outlook as well as to focus on China’s needs. This cooperation with key high schools will undoubtedly drive the communication and understanding between Higher Education institution and High Schools and help SBC to more effectively select and foster those students who are willing to and able to perform in an international education system'. Meanwhile, as an Alumnus and previous Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, Professor Ian Gow is especially pleased to enable the University of Sheffield to engage with Chinese high schools to drive their own internationalization.
Professor He Dongtao, Party Secretary of Hangzhou No. 2 High School, Zhejiang Province, expressed, ‘It takes ten years to grow trees but takes a hundred years to rear people. As educationalists, we are fully committed to the mission of fostering talents, but at the same time we deeply understand the challenges facing the Chinese education system, both for High Schools and Universities. Therefore, along with accelerating needs for talents, it is imperative for high schools to explore communication and cooperation in the vertical (i.e., between high schools and universities) and horizontal (between China and overseas) planes. We are especially motivated to formalize this cooperation with SBC, a Sino-British university college, as this practice would allow us to explore and deepen understanding and cooperation in both dimensions.
Mr. Xia Wen, Director of Ningbo Admissions’ Office for National Entrance Exam for College (Gaokao), Zhejiang Province, also offered his comment from the government’s perspective, ‘There are increasing pressure over education institutions for sufficient and qualified talents in the context of rapidly changing society. It is crucial to optimize our way of selecting good candidates for universities, but even more importantly for both parties, including high schools and universities, to define and agree on criteria for talents. This mechanism of deepening communication and cooperation will, with ever greater effect, help our educational institutions to prepare, foster and provide sufficient and competent talents for this rapidly changing society and for China’s internationalisation’.
