Source: China Science Daily 2013-03-13 Page 04
Written by: Wen Caifei
Translated by: Zhang Saijia

"Higher education solves the problems that restrict national competitiveness. What we should focus next is how to use 4% of GDP to improve education quality."  — Xu Ningsheng

During the two sessions this year, I met SYSU President Xu Ningsheng again. He was wearing a pair of broad-brimmed glasses, and smiled like a friendly neighbour.

Academician Xu Ningsheng might have been busy in the laboratory if he had not been the president. He would say politely if a reporter came to interview him, “please don’t publish it since we are friends.” As a newly-elected NPC Deputy and a president for more than two years, Xu Ningsheng has decided to break the low profile of scientists. However, as a scientist himself, he seeks truth when doing things.

In order to prepare for the interview, Xu Ningsheng had a thick stack of materials sorted out. “The gross enrollment rate of higher education in Jiangsu Province has exceeded 45% while that of Guangdong Province is only 28.2%. We are ahead of (Jiangsu) in economy but we lag behind (Jiangsu) in education!” He said. When a reporter asked him about the discrimination against female students in some majors in college entrance examination, he declined to answer because he has not encountered such a case.

"My main concern is higher education and science and technology, as well as their roles to national development.” Xu Ningsheng said.

Last year, Xu Ningsheng put forward an educational idea in the university: “dedication to teaching, students and learning”, with focus on improving education quality and upgrading the overall academic level of teachers. A year has passed and the media are looking for the result that this educational idea has brought.

Xu Ningsheng told the reporter of China Science Daily that the university increased its undergraduate teaching input last year, “The input was directly used for teachers and students, not including the special fund for books and other special funds.” Some schools have “jumped” in the course of undergraduate teaching reform. The Lingnan College has specially launched the Report on Undergraduate Education Reform, the preface of which was written by Xu Ningsheng.

In fact, compared with the single identity of scholar, Xu Ningsheng, as an NPC Deputy and President of Sun Yat-sen University, has one particular advantage — he has a better understanding of the ability of scientists and he is able to provide practical suggestions according to the national demand.

Our country has established the city of Sansha. However, research talents are unwilling to go there because the infrastructure on the island is rather poor and coconuts even outnumber humans. He pointed out that marine development is no less important than the construction of big airplanes and our country should have special talents introduction projects. In the meantime, Sun Yat-sen University has signed an agreement with relevant companies in Guangdong to jointly establish the Research Institute for Marine Biological Industry in order to speed up the R&D of relevant industrial technology and talent training.

Xu Ningsheng has a motto: “Don’t always follow others’ steps but do something that’s never been done by others”, which is highly appreciated by Samuel C .C. Ting, a Nobel Laureate in Physics.

Seeing that a lot of Chinese students go abroad for further study, he thinks that colleges and universities in China can also attract foreign students. We should build up our confidence and compete with other countries, forging a better domestic environment during this competition, “we can create some new educational modes together in our cooperation with foreign universities.”

The main development goal of SYSU-CMU Joint Institute of Engineering is for both universities to explore a new undergraduate teaching mode for engineering majors. The Sino-French Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Technology focuses on learning from foreign experience of training nuclear engineers, while the cooperation with Johns Hopkins University is a significant initiative for SYSU to promote the internationalization of its clinical research.

However, in addition to his foresight in scientific research and educational reform, Xu Ningsheng is a generous elder in the eyes of the students.

"Stop shaking, my student. You won’t shake out love or career. Just study hard!” Not long ago, a WeChat signature under the account of “Xu Ningsheng” caught a lot of attention but was proved a fake by the SYSU official Weibo. This fake WeChat account was forged by a sophomore student of SYSU. People around him were worried about whether he had infringed the portrait right of President Xu Ningsheng, but the university has never called him to account.

In every June when phoenix flowers are in full blossom, proposals based on surveys and investigations done by SYSU students are as heated as the two sessions. The “Ten Proposals” is a regular event at SYSU. Through selection, the ten most fabulous proposals will be realized by the university.

"Lunch with the President” is a proposal approved by Xu Ningsheng immediately after he received it. During the lunch which lasted more than an hour, he was so busy answering all kinds of questions raised by students concerning the canteen food, the library, and the gym that he did not even have time to have a bite of his lunch. Now “Lunch with the President” has been extended to “Lunch with University Leaders”, which is another channel for students to communicate with the university leaders face to face.

Xu Ningsheng appreciates such activities. He was among the first to join in the proposal of “Through Train” as member of the CPPCC Guangdong Provincial Committee. He once sent a report on the Development of Guangdong’s Strategic Information Industry during the “12th Five-Year Plan” directly to the provincial Party secretary, which was then transferred to the Development and Reform Commission of Guangdong Province and relevant departments for further research. Later he received a reply of more than two pages long, explaining that “the proposal you put forward would be realized in …”

"This proves that you can make it if you put your heart in it.” Xu Ningsheng said with a smile.

【Name Card】

Xu Ningsheng, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Member of Third World Academy of Sciences, President of Sun Yat-sen University, has long been dedicated to the research of vacuum micro-nano electronics. He has won the second prize of the State Natural Science Award twice. Three students of his won the National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award and two students were nominated for the award.