This summer, RUCers walked into many walks of life to experience what’s going on in the country in person. From border areas to underdeveloped countryside, from field investigation to online interviews, RUCers can be found in many parts of China carrying investigation and research in an attempt to experience the great cause of Chinese modernization with their own eyes.
As part of the university’s efforts to cultivate talent who can shoulder the responsibility of national rejuvenation, the university authority set great store by social practice, taking systematic and science-based approach to support the summer social practice program in a holistic way. University leaders, including Chairman Zhang Donggang, President Lin Shangli, led teachers and students to explore the great achievement of Chinese modernization in the new era.
Chairman Zhang Donggang led a delegation to Horgos
President Lin Shangli visited members of investigation team in Fuzhou, Fujian
The Program of “Retracing the Original Aspiration of the State Leader”
“Retracing the Original Aspiration of the State Leader” is the signature program of Renmin University of China. The program aims at studying the political career of the State Leader and understand how his political vision comes into being. This summer, over 10 teams made up by students and teachers went to Yan'an, Zhengding, Xiamen, Ningde, Fuzhou, Nanping, Huzhou, Shaoxing, Shanghai and other places, hoping to have an in-depth understanding of the original aspiration of the state leader.
The Training Program of “The Border Areas of A Major Country”
Border areas are the gateway of China's opening up to the outside world and the windows displaying the country's image and its people’s lives. Also, it functions as a strong barrier to defend homeland security and ecological security. A thorough understanding of the vast frontiers is the prerequisite of an in-depth understanding of the vastness of China, and the 22,000-kilometer-long land borderline that symbolizes enormous academic value, cultural essence, openness, and entrepreneurship. This summer, Renmin University of China unveiled the education program of “The Border Areas of A Major Country”, the first station of which was themed with "grasping the country's strategy of Xinjiang governance in the new era and presenting the story of Xinjiang featuring Chinese modernization to global audience". The program brought together students and teachers from Xinjiang University and Xinjiang University of Finance & Economics, comprising over 10 academic teams of more than 300 people led by professors, and young promising teachers. The academic team went to 34 border counties in 9 prefectures of the autonomous region in a three-pronged approach to carry out social research. The training project also invited famous experts and scholars from multiple disciplines to compile literature of the theories, systems and policies of the city, with which people can better understand the history, geography and culture of the area. In a word, the training program aims at presenting the magnificent landscape, rich culture, national solidarity and rapid development of Xin Jiang to global audience.
The Training Program of “Understanding China”
The academic training program of "Understanding China" encourages postgraduate students to focus on China and our time, organizing teams to conduct investigation and research in different parts of the country. Ultimately, the program encourages students to form their investigation report and, if possible, publish it, so as to make contributions to regional development. Since its inception in 2022, the program has given support to 44 teams of 209 postgraduates in conducting investigation and research on grassroots governance, rural revitalization, ethnic work, epidemic prevention and control, and industrial development. This year, we continued the model of “Having students solve the problem facing local regions under the guidance of teachers”. In addition, we are paying attention to more fields and regions this year. Since July, the graduate students of the training program have been going to Beijing, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan and other places one after another in an effort to "serve the society with their knowledge". By conducting academic research according to the actual needs of social development, these teams have managed to produce "visible and tangible" outcomes as they strive to be a “problem-solver” for the new journey in the new era.
The On-job Training Program of National Governance
In February 2023, the university launched the second phase of the on-job training program of "national governance", selecting 107 postgraduate students from 27 colleges based on merit, including 47 doctoral students and 60 master students. Outstanding students from the first phase of the training program were also invited to guide the new members. In the early stage of the training program, 10 training courses were offered, and more than 20 group seminars were organized. The courses offered covered such topics as public service, clean governance, official document writing, research report writing, official etiquette, urban and rural community governance, crisis communication management, etc., with which the university intended to help our graduate students enrich their theoretical knowledge on social governance, deeply understand what is going on in our community, society and country, profoundly understand the functioning of government organs and, ultimately, improve their comprehensive ability to provide public service. In July, students participating in the second phase of the "National Governance" Program went to Beijing, Ningxia, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Yunnan and other places in batches to carry out on-job training for a period of six to eight weeks, so as to practice their skills in rural revitalization, industrial development, and etc. By participating in such program, the participants are expected to improve themselves and strive to grow into driver and pillar of our society who can shoulder the responsibility of the challenging workload in rural community.
The 832 Program of Presenting China’s Story of Poverty Alleviation to Global Audience
The 832 program aims to visit all the 832 poverty-stricken counties in China and record how it shakes off poverty over time. The Research on the History of the People's Republic of China's Poverty Eradication" is the largest and most extensive social survey and interview in the field of poverty eradication. Through interviews with key leading comrades of national-level poverty-stricken counties and people who have experienced the fight against poverty, the project strives to make a panoramic and in-depth record of China's science-based fight against poverty and the dedication of poverty alleviation workers in an accurate, informative, and vivid way. The project aims to refine the milestone significance of the central authority‘s role in eradicating absolute poverty in the history of the development of the Chinese nation, providing a source of inspiration for the goal of comprehensively building a modern socialist country. Such efforts are expected to contribute to the development of the Chinese civilization, present the Chinese story of poverty eradication to global audience, provide a stellar example of poverty alleviation for the one billion poor people in developing countries all over the world, and contribute Chinese wisdom to the progress of human civilization, and global civilization.
The Social Survey Program of "One Thousand People, One Hundred Villages"
As the signature program of Renmin University of China with the longest history, the widest coverage and the greatest influence, the "One Thousand People, One Hundred Villages" social research program has organized more than 1,000 teachers and students each year to go to China's rural areas and communities to conduct systematic and standardized practical research based on in-depth interviews and questionnaires over the past 10 years or so, guiding young students to experience the broad picture of "poverty alleviation" and "rural revitalization". At present, the "Thousand People and One Hundred Villages" social research program has become a database for RUC youth to record the changes of the country in the new era, a casebook to describe the achievements of rural areas and an ideal option to incubate young people's research results. "In the summer of 2023, students of the program focused on the rural areas, communities, and enterprises that the Chinese president has visited. During the program, participants listened to the witnesses of changes in the areas to share what they experienced in the past. Also, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were conducted to have a greater picture of the development of these areas. The students were guided to devote their youth to the great practice of Chinese modernization, and to sketch out the outlines of China's rural poverty alleviation and countryside revitalization, the modernization of China's grass-roots governance, and the high-quality development of China's enterprises.
The Teaching Reform Project of Field Classroom
The field classroom teaching is committed to cultivating high-quality talents with sound personality, rich knowledge and patriotic sentiment by experiencing real social activities in person. In the summer of 2023, in accordance with the university’s goal to build a nationally famous brand that brings together undergraduates, master students and doctoral students from different academic background, the field classroom program was comprehensively upgraded so as to absorb students from all majors. Besides, teachers and students of the Affiliated School of RUC, as well as many colleges and secondary schools at home and abroad were also welcome to participate in this program. As a result, the program managed to break the barrier between different majors, schools, universities and countries.
The RUC Doctoral Student Service Corp
Since its founding in 2007, the RUC Doctoral Student Service Corp has always adhered to the problem-oriented principle of "finding solutions to problems troubling local areas". It has helped young researchers to study true knowledge, make tangible contributions and cultivate sound personality. Hundreds of teachers and students from 26 colleges were dispatched to participate in social practice and research, leaving their footprint on more than 20 places across the country, traveling nearly 30,000 kilometers, and producing 43 high-quality research reports. The research reports written by the service corp mainly centered around China’s new development philosophy, high-quality economic development, supply-side structural reform, ecological environmental protection, rural revitalization, urban-rural integrated development and other topics. Some of these reports have been approved by provincial and municipal leaders of the research area and have been reported by the mainstream media. A number of research results even have been published on authoritative platforms. Up so far, the research team has been awarded by the Central Committee of the Youth League and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Nowadays, the doctoral service group has become an important platform for RUC students to devote themselves to social service and local development.
The Artistic Social Survey Program
Since its founding in 2013, Renmin University of China's "Art and Pioneer" artistic social research program has attracted more than 500 students and teachers over the past 10 years who traveled to more than ten provinces and hundreds of counties in Fujian, Hunan, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, etc. They have carefully studied many intangible cultural heritages, such as string puppets, Chinese skateboarding, Ansai waist drums, Shaanxi folk songs, etc., and visited more than 100 inheritors of intangible cultural heritages. During the program, the participants also combined their own artistic expertise with the characteristics of the local cultures in an attempt to organize cultural performances that hold great appeal to people from different background and have a wide variety of forms. All these efforts represent the positive attitude of the contemporary youth in protecting the excellent traditional Chinese culture.
Going forward, RUCer will continually contribute to the development of the country with their knowledge, striving to find solutions to problems troubling the society.
