On September 2, Renmin University of China adopted a new type of management pattern that covers all students of the university’s six departments after reconstructing its original Mingde College and Mingli College, and newly establishing Xinmin College, Chongshi College and Qiushi College at the Zhongguancun campus, and Yuanjian College at the Suzhou Campus. Zhang Donggang, Chair of the University Council, Lin Shangli, President of the University, Zheng Shuiquan, Vice Chair of the University Council, Wang Yi, Vice President of the University, Qing Geletu, Head of the RUC Organization Department, and Deans of the 6 new schools attended the opening ceremony together where a commemorative plaque was inaugurated.

With the all-round development of its students at its core, the latest restructuring is the university’s latest move to cultivate virtuous and knowledgeable students. To fulfill its overarching mission of cultivating students who can be the pillar and pioneer of the country’s modernization drive, the university adopted the new structure to deepen the mechanism of collaborative education, build an interdisciplinary model for the cultivation of outstanding and innovative talents, and establish a new system covering both undergraduates and graduates. The new structure brings together learning, scientific research, social practice and cultural education, and thus enables the university to create a community featuring a high degree of participation, interaction and synergy for the learning and growth of students, guiding students to engage in independent and in-depth learning, enhancing their multi-dimensional innovation ability, and promoting the all-around development of students in terms of ethics, intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics.

According to the overall principle, the establishment of the 6 new colleges are largely based on our original 6 departments, ensuring that each and every school belong to a certain college. In the new system, student’s majors and relations to their specific schools remain unchanged. But they belong to an additional college. Under the new framework, schools and colleges work together to map out the overall Training Program. Then, the six schools are responsible to developing core courses of different departments, coordinating the first-year teaching plan of students. The new system allows the university to fully leverage the strength of different departments and schools, pooling together our resources to boost the all-round development of our students.

The office space of the newly-established colleges is in the Lide Building, the youngest and the most modernized building of RUC Zhongguancun Campus. It consists of a public communication platform (the first floor of Lide Building) and an academic study platform (the second floor of Lide Building). With a commitment to the growth of students, the space is equipped with various software and hardware equipment so as to fully meet students’ demands of reading, discussion, inquiry, presentation and leisure.

During the opening ceremony, leaders of the university and Deans of the 6 newly-established colleges elaborated on the significance of the new structure and their expectation on it.

Zhang Donggang, Chair of the University Council, mentioned that the latest restructure marks an important move in the university’s endeavor to build a world-class university with Chinese characters. It is an innovative move aiming at boosting the university’s capacity to cultivate top-notch personnel and meet China’s development demand. To make China a strong education power, the development of higher education would be a top priority. In this regard, RUC should strive to be the pioneer leading China’s higher education development. Zhang stressed that, as the university draws closer to its 100th anniversary in 2037, the university is taking diverse measures to help students achieve all-round development in terms of moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility, and work skills. He urged the six colleges to bear in mind the development of the society, making even greater achievements in the future.

Lin Shangli, President of the University, said that the restructuring marks the university’s effort to integrate its development into the rejuvenation of the country, a move signaling the university’s efforts to seize development opportunity in the new era. “As we draw closer to the 100th anniversary of RUC, more innovative and science-based approaches must be adopted to make our system, mechanism, idea and strategy better serve our goal of cultivating top-notch personnel who can shoulder the responsibility of national rejuvenation and global development” said Lin. “We must work earnestly to further refine the blueprint and timetable of our development, strength the cooperation between colleges and schools and among different colleges. With concerted efforts, we will certainly open new ground for talents cultivation.

Huang Xingtao, Dean of Mingde College, mentioned that, under the strong support and guidance of the university authority and the joint contribution of the School of History, the School of Liberal Arts, the School of Philosophy, the school of Guoxue, encouraging progress has been made over the past three years following its founding. “After the reconstruction of the Mingde College, we will continue to strength our ties with individual schools and join hands to explore a more diverse and flexible mechanism in education.” said Huang. With the new restructuring, the school of Foreign Language, and the School of Chinese Studies and Cultural Exchange are also included in the Mingde College. It is foreseeable that more progress will certainly be made in the days to come.

Du Xiaoyong, Dean of Mingli College, stressed the college’s determination to continuously exploring a better mode for talent cultivation by building on its success in the past. In accordance with the new positioning and strategic goal of the college, they will take tangible measures to boost the quality of core courses and innovation capacity. Du then expressed its confidence in providing comprehensive guidance to students, meeting the students’ expectation and living up to the university’s trust. To reach this end, Du believed that a close connection between students and teachers is a prerequisite. Modern Information Technology can also bring huge possibilities and must be emphasized, noted Du.

Qing Xuan, Dean of Xinmin college pointed out that it is of great significance to explore a new development path with distinctive RUC characters when the country is striving to build a modernized socialist country in an all-round way. The university’s new restructuring will not only serve its goal of building a world-class university but also make contributions to the country’s modernization drive. Following that, Qing quoted a poem by Wu Yuzhang, the first President of RUC, “A life without contributions to the development of one’s country and fellow countrymen is devoid of value.”

Yang Ruilong, Dean of Chongshi college pointed out that the establishment of colleges represents a major reform of RUC’s talents cultivation and teaching mode, breaking the barrier between different schools. According to him, the new move is conductive to a better usage of high-quality teaching resources. Besides, the new arrangement can better dovetail with our strategy in undergraduate education. Qiushi college consists of some of the university’s strongest disciplines like theoretical economics and applied economics, which are ranked No. 1 in the country. The college will build on its success in the past and make even greater achievement in the days to come.

Yan Jinming, Dean of Qiushi college is a new organization and platform for the training of management personnel. With a strict hiring process, the college seeks to build a teaching staff featuring strong academic strength and diverse academic background. By providing rudimentary, interdisciplinary and high-quality courses, Qiushi college will spare no effort to improve the quality of teaching. With the students’ healthy growth as its core, the college will take coordinated measures to help students achieve all-round development in terms of moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility, and work skills.

Wang Xiaohu, Dean of Yuanjian college emphasized the university’s efforts to pursue the joint development of its 4 campuses. The college consists of 3 schools in Suzhou campus, covering ungraduated students cultivated by the joint cooperation between RUC and overseas universities, full-time professional masters and overseas students from the Belt & Road countries. The college will redouble its efforts to introduce the academic resources of the RUC main campus to the Suzhou campus and better empower its students. Besides, it will work hard to cultivate talents who are proficient in both Chinese and foreign countries.

With the management pattern, RUC will certainly make greater contributions in disciplinary construction and talents cultivation.