On 10 September, the eve of the 41st national Teachers’ Day, theuniversityheld its Teacher’s Day Celebration for Foreign Teachers and Safety-Orientation Meeting in the second-floor lecture hall of Houde Building. Liu Yinfang, Vice-President, addressed the gathering on behalf of the university.
Liu extended festive greetings and sincere gratitude to all foreign faculty members. He noted that international teachers are a vital force in globalizing academic disciplines, fostering China-foreign cultural and educational exchanges, and raising the quality of talent cultivation. The university, he said, attaches great importance to the recruitment of foreign experts. By refining talent-import mechanisms and building academic platforms, the university has continuously upgraded the overall calibre of its foreign staff; at present 71.4 percent of the university’s foreign teachers hold doctoral degrees, and the talent-echelon structure is steadily improving. The university will further intensify its efforts to attract high-level foreign experts and will keep perfecting a full-chain service system that “recruits, cultivates, utilises and retains” talent. Liu reaffirmed the university’s commitment to caring for the professional and personal lives of foreign teachers, to optimising working conditions and support services, and to providing broader development space and more solid guarantees. He expressed the hope that the foreign teachers will draw on their professional strengths and cross-cultural backgrounds to take an active part in discipline building, curriculum reform and scientific innovation, integrating advanced international educational ideas and teaching methods into daily practice and injecting new vitality and wisdom into the university’s international education. He also urged all foreign staff to strictly abide by Chinese laws and regulations as well as university rules, and to work together to safeguard a harmonious, stable and secure campus.
At the meeting, foreign teacher representatives shared their experiences and aspirations. Dr Daniel Robert from South Africa spoke of his love for education and the rewards and touching moments he has had at Dezhou University. Thai teacherSripaphouth Chonthichaexpressed her wish to contribute more to cultural and educational exchanges between China and Thailand. Russian teacherMuravevAlexey pledged to give full play to his strengths to build a bridgefor cooperation between Chinese and Russian universities and to deepen academic exchanges.
During the meeting, the International Exchange & Cooperation Office conducted a safety-orientation and on-boarding training. Afterwards, the teachers were given a guided tour of the university history museum and the library to learn about the university’s long tradition and achievements, helping them feel a stronger sense of belonging and identity.
