In the afternoon of May 11, Professor Yang Fujia, President of The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), came to the campus and delivered a lecture on liberal education. Besides, Professor Yang also had an in-depth discussion with Xu Yafen, council leader of Zhejiang Wanli Corporation, Ying Min, executive president of our university, and other school officials concerning the school-running model and the future development of ZhejiangWanliUniversity. President Ying introduced to Professor Yang the orientation, construction and development of our university. They also discussed the liberal arts education.
Professor Yang is an eminent physicist and distinguished academician of the ChineseAcademy of Sciences. He is Vice-Chairman of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAST) , former president of FudanUniversity and president of The University of Nottingham Ningbo
In the afternoon, President Ying Min hosted Prof. Yang’s lecture on liberal arts education in the academic lecture hall, where the Prof. Yang conveyed in details his idea of liberal arts education and especially the five essential elements in it. He pointed out that the first element is a wide range of knowledge covering both science and arts. The second is being elegant, which means “human beings first, professionals second”. The third is small class size. Professor Yang said that small class sizes may stimulate students to profound thinking and raising questions actively. The fourth element of liberal arts education needs a variety of extracurricular activities, which help to foster students’ practical and comprehensive abilities. Last but not least, liberal arts education stresses the importance of cultivating students. Professor Yang said that teachers’ prior duty is cultivating students instead of publishing articles. At the end of the lecture, the students raised many questions and held heated discussions with the professor.