A Brief Introduction to Sun Yat-sen University

Characteristics and splendid achievements

Striking characteristics in education have been developed in almost 80 years of the history of Sun Yat-sen University, of which the most outstanding are being open, scientific and revolutionary.

Sun Yat-sen university was founded for the purpose of training revolutionaries. Dr. Sun Yat-sen's mottos of "Serving the public" and "We have not succeeded in revolution and should continue to endeavour" have been encouraging everyone in the University. Leading officials of the previous times all attached importance to education of patriotism and personal integrity, emphasized the national spirit, and cultivated ideas of the state and ethics. Following Dr. Sun Yat-sen's example and taking his revolutionary ideas as the guiding theory in running the school, the university has graduated large quantities of excellent talents and fostered a fine tradition of shouldering the responsibility of defending the country and building the nation in the past 80 years. In his inscription to the university, Jiang Zemin, the General Secretary of the Party, called on the faculty and students to "carry on the revolutionary spirit of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.", which was indeed an appropriate summary of the revolutionary tradition of Sun Yat-sen University.

The history of Sun Yat-sen University has been closely associated with a batch of professors and scholars of great masters, whose ideas and methods of study and research have fostered the fine tradition of emphasizing the "scientific nature". In the school tenet of the university, it has been set as the goal to develop teaching and research, and to strive to be a famous university since the beginning. The scientific laws of stressing the foundation, quality, and talent training have become the tradition of teaching and learning in Sun Yat-sen University. Professor Chen Yinqie, a renowned master of the national classics, was proficient in a dozen languages, including Sanskrit, and had made outstanding accomplishments in history, religion, linguistics, textual research, cultural study and the fields such as Chinese classical literature. Mr. Chen devoted himself to doing genuine studies and did not seek undeserved reputation, insisting on "three don'ts" in academic research: don't lecture according to the book; don't mimic what others have talked; and don't repeat what is said before even by himself. He persisted in lecturing on the problems that were discovered in academic research, as well as the exploration and thinking in the process of solving these problems. The scientific style of teaching by concrete examples and the discreet manner in research, the courage in exploring new academic fields have left a lot of spiritual wealth to the scientific shrine of Sun Yat-sen University.

Guangzhou has always been the gateway of China's opening to the world and the bridge connecting the inland with the oversea. This is the geographical background of the tradition of "openness" in Sun Yat-sen University. Ever since the time of preparing to set up Guangdong University, 31 out of the 35 members of the preparatory committee were experts in advanced international education returned from the overseas. Dr. Sun Yat-sen asked the university to study "mainly the changing science and technology in the world." The university established an overseas branch in Lyons, France at the beginning and implemented openness by recruiting well-known teachers nation-wide. Since reform and opening, the university has been adhering to the tradition of openness by promptly adjusting the structure of specialties and training patterns so as to accommodate to the fast growth of the socialist market economy and the economic development in Guangdong. The blending of the tradition of elite education with corporate culture enables graduates of Sun Yat-sen University to adapt to the society comparatively quickly and be accepted by the society. By employing a batch of overseas scholars to teach in the university, the communication and connection between traditional education and advanced international education has been strengthened. The completion of the Zhuhai campus also embodies the tradition of "openness" in running the university. The Zhuhai campus has become the window of cooperation and exchange between foreign universities and Sun Yat-sen University as well as the higher education in Guangdong and a new starting point of running a well-known high-level international university.

In the recent few years, students in Sun Yat-sen University have made a lot of achievements. For example, 9 doctoral theses from the university are selected to be included in the 100 excellent doctoral theses nation-wide in the past years. In 2003, the team representing Sun Yat-sen University won the silver award of the 27th computer programming championship of college students, and another team won the champion at the 4th investment planning ACCA open championship of college students held in Hong Kong. In 2002, the student debate team of the university won the champion at the national debate contest of college students, and was qualified to represent China at the international debate contest of college students in 2003. In 2002, the team representing the university beat other well-known universities in Asia and won the champion at the Asian competition of business initiation planning, and took away all champions in the individual events. The University ranked No. 1 in the second batch of assessment of MBA teaching.

Sun Yat-sen University, the well-known Chinese university created by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, has entered the fast lane of accelerated development. To build the University into a high-level research-type comprehensive university ranked on top of universities in the country and with greater influence in the world, all faculties, employees and students are filled with confidence in inheriting the tradition and moving ahead, and are of one heart and one mind in marching forward with time and exploiting and creating the new world. In the new century, Sun Yat-sen University is sure to march victoriously and to attain ever-splendid successes. (Last updated: April 5,2006)

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