On November 5th, the 29th Foreign Language Festival of Nankai University and the opening ceremony of Mudan Academy was held in College of Foreign Languages at the Balitai Campus. Vice President Wang Xinsheng attended the ceremony and delivered a speech, and nearly 200 students and teachers of the first class of Mudan Academy from all departments participated in the ceremony.
It is the 29th year since Foreign Language Festival of Nankai University launched, and this time, the teachers and students of Mudan Academy have injected new power and vitality into this year’s activities. Foreign Language Festival this year is in line with the student activities of Mudan Academy in the fall semester, highlighting the combination of academics and enjoyment. With a series of activities of rich content and diversified forms under the theme of The Combination of Chinese and Western Culture with Wonderful Translation, it will continue throughout the fall semester. There are numerous activities such as a series of lectures on Area Studies, the honor credit program of the undergraduate courses in the College of Foreign Languages, and the meeting with supervisors and other academic activities with the theme of i-learn|Talking about the academic studies; Italian language and culture week, new starting point of minority language teaching, drama festival, recitation competition, garden party and other immersive cultural experiences; talent training camp for international organizations, Chinese and foreign youth exchange meetings, English corners, Sino-Japanese exchange meetings with the theme of i enjoy | listening to the thoughts and advice of peers, and competitions such as speech contests, dubbing contests, poetry creation contests, and diplomatic style contests with the theme of i fight|climbing to the top of foreign language-learning.
Wang Xinsheng announced the opening of the Foreign Language Festival and the welcoming ceremony of the Mudan Academy. In his speech, he encouraged teachers and students to regard Mudan Academy as a platform to innovate and explore the construction of new liberal arts and actively build a teacher-student community to make it a new type of educating position with distinctive features and inherited cultural connotations, where teachers and students help and learn from each other.
Yan Guodong, Dean of Mudan Academy and the College of Foreign Languages, Zhao Hong, a representative of Mudan Academy's tutors and director of the Department of Public Computer Basic Education in Nankai University, and the head of the Department of Academic Affairs and the Party Committee of Post-Graduate Affairs Office introduced the construction of “Wisdom Academy” of Nankai University and Mudan Academy (the Second Wisdom Academy of Nankai University), saying that the teachers and students should view Foreign Language Festival as an opportunity and regard Mudan Academy as a platform to participate in, learn actively, clarify goals, and reap happiness from the study and practice of foreign language subjects and interdisciplinary fusion.
As a science student, Mudan Academy has brought me a new understanding of foreign languages. Pang Zhihao, a 2017 undergraduate student majoring in Biology in the School of Life Sciences, delivered a speech as a student representative and talked about his gains from the lessons and practical activities of the academy. Recently, the College of Foreign Languages opened up all foreign language courses to students of Mudan Academy and launched the New Starting Point of Minority Languages voluntary teaching activity. Pang Zhihao said that he has improved both language ability and comprehensive quality in the activity. I look forward to breaking boundaries of different majors at Mudan Academy, expanding potential imperceptibly, and promoting all-round development.
Since the implementation of the The Action Plan of First-Class Undergraduate Education Quality Improvement in Nankai University (2019-2021) in September 2019, the First Wisdom Academy of Nankai University was established, and the school's exploration of the academy system education model was officially launched. The aim is to break through the framework of traditional majors and schools with the Wisdom Academy, rely on a platform to tie together teachers and students of different disciplines, give full play to the advantages of interdisciplinarity, and create a new type of teacher-student community that promotes online and offline collaborative advancement and helps students develop in all aspects. In the fall semester of 2020, the university expanded the scale of the academy system and established the first wisdom academy, the second wisdom academy (Mudan Academy), the third wisdom academy (Boling Wisdom Academy), and the fourth wisdom academy (Turing Academy), the fifth wisdom academy (Miaowu Academy), continuing to explore the new path of academy system education.
Relying on the characteristics of the College of Foreign Languages and regarding holistic education as its purpose, Mudan Academy is committed to cultivating students into socialist builders and successors in new era with superb professional knowledge, profound humanistic literacy, international vision, Chinese feelings and Nankai character. After the opening ceremony, the meetings of tutors and students in Mudan Academy were held. Later, the teachers and students also participated in an indoor garden party of the Foreign Language Festival, and by exchanges and interactions, they speak freely, learn from each other and their relationships are strengthened.
