On 30th March, a senior delegation from the Chinese Ministry of Education (MoE) visited The Sino-British College (SBC). Members of the delegation included Mr. Yu Jihai, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, Mr. Che Weimin, Deputy Director of the Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE), Mr. Wang Yi, Deputy Head of the Division of Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges, Mr. Zhao Tiejun, Deputy Head of the Department of Degree Endorsement, CSCSE, Mr. Cui Yining, Officer, Department of Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, CSCSE and Ms Wang Jing. The delegation was accompanied by Mr. Liu Jiangyuan, Associate Researcher, Division of International Affairs, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission.
Members of the SBC executive team met with the officials on their arrival, including Professor John Wilson, Principal and CEO of SBC, Professor Linda Liu, Vice-Dean of SBC, Dr Liu Bin, Secretary of Joint Party Branch and Deputy Director of Campus Management Committee, Fuxing Campus, and Dr Christine Mortimer, Director of Academic Quality and Business Development.
Following the welcome speech given by Professor John Wilson, Professor Linda Liu gave a brief presentation on the establishment and recent development of SBC, in particular the innovative managerial approaches and uniqueness of the College. It is reported that over the past 10 years, following the concept of ‘morality education is the top priority for people-oriented education’, in-depth consideration has been given on talent cultivation in terms of aims and approaches. SBC has also established an effective mechanism for the running of the College with an innovative model for educational cooperation under the framework of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST). This allows double-degree students and direct entry students, and Chinese students and international students to have the same opportunities for receiving international education by making full use of the unique strength and multi-cultural environment of SBC. In addition, the quality educational resources from SBC’s UK partner universities are also being introduced into USST, making SBC a valuable bridge for transferring international education.
Mr. Yu Jihai highly recognised the success achieved by SBC in all aspects and congratulated the team on the recent successful renew of the licence. He is pleased about the fact that the UK partner universities are fully supportive for the development of the College. It is expected that SBC will continue to succeed with its advanced concept for Sino-foreign JV education, a stable team of foreign teachers and leadership team.
Mr. Wang Yi enquired about the matters relating to teaching quality assurance, introduction of educational resources and strategic planning for the future. In response, Professor John Wilson expressed that teaching quality at SBC is standardised and implemented effectively through the NCUK platform for academic management. In the process of selecting degree partners, the academic strength, research capacity and level of international accreditation are highly regarded by SBC as key criteria. Under the three overarching themes as set in the Vision 2025, i.e., responsible leadership, enterprise and innovation, and cultural empathy, SBC is committed to fulfilling its strategic goals by enhancing the overall quality and level of the College, rising from scale to quality.
Mr. Che Weimin expressed that officials at MoE are currently discussing about the possibility of holding the Sino-UK high-level people-to-people exchange dialogue in the UK this year. It is hoped that SBC could provide full support for the event by making use of its international reputation and UK partner university network.
On behalf of the Shanghai Education Commission, Mr. Liu Jiangyuan thanked the MoE officials for their visit. He expressed that as a secondary college and a JV institution, SBC has grown as a fine example for Sino-foreign JV education in Shanghai, with full support from officials at the Shanghai Education Commission. It is expected that in the next 10 years, the College will play a more significant role in enhancing the overall development of international education in Shanghai.
Following the meeting in the SBC English Tearoom, the senior visitors were shown around the campus. The officials highly recognised the efforts made by SBC in offering a truly international learning environment to students, combining both the Chinese and European architectural styles.
