In October 2018, the Institute of Education established four research centers, including the Center for University Teaching Research, the Center for Graduate Education Research, the Center for International Higher Education Research, and the Center for Fujian-Taiwan Higher Education Research. Relying on Xiamen University's regional characteristics and disciplinary advantages, the four research centers are committed to innovating disciplinary development, stimulating research vitality, addressing major theoretical and practical issues, promoting international academic exchanges, and serving China's efforts to build a strong nation in higher education.
Center for University Teaching Research
Institutional Orientation：Based on the main position and main channel of curriculum and teaching, the center conducts in-depth theoretical research and practical exploration on curriculum and teaching， which focuses on the basic theoretical research and cutting-edge reform and innovation of curriculum and teaching, providing consulting services for relevant departments, and continuously promoting the improvement of educational and teaching standards as well as teachers' teaching capabilities in China's colleges and universities, so as to enhance the quality of talent cultivation.
Research Fields: Taking full advantage of the strengths of Xiamen University's higher education discipline, the center collaborates with relevant research forces at home and abroad to carry out theoretical and practical research through large-scale surveys, database construction, teaching experiments, lesson study, teaching consulting and other methods. Its research fields include basic theories of curriculum and teaching, instructional design, teachers' professional development, innovative teaching, digital teaching, college students' learning and development, flipped classroom, blended teaching, etc. In recent years, it has paid special attention to exploring the mechanisms and laws of teaching and learning among teachers and students in China's colleges and universities through large-scale surveys, as well as how to deeply integrate information technology into education and teaching to achieve teaching innovation and improve educational and teaching standards.
Institutional Features: The center attaches great importance to theoretical construction and empirical research, with a particular focus on the new directions and new models of curriculum and teaching reform in the context of information technology and artificial intelligence. On the one hand, it emphasizes the research on basic theories of curriculum and teaching, commits to exploring the basic mechanisms of teaching and learning between teachers and students in colleges and universities, and strives to construct a theoretical system of curriculum and teaching for higher education in China. On the other hand, it stresses the connection with frontline curriculum and teaching, goes deep into classrooms and among teachers and students to collect first-hand data. The research originates from teaching and feeds back to teaching, realizing the close integration of research and practice.
Director of the Center
Guo Jianpeng
Members of the Center
Liu Zhentian, Hong Zhizhong, Qiao Lianquan, Huang Yifan, Yang Zi
Center for Graduate Education Research
Institutional Orientation: Taking the theoretical, policy-related, and practical issues of graduate education as its research objects, the center focuses on studying major theoretical and practical problems in graduate education. It aims to enhance Xiamen University's influence and academic reputation in this field both domestically and internationally, and provide theoretical support for the cultivation of high-level innovative talents and the formulation of major decisions of Xiamen University.
Research Directions:
1.Theoretical Research on Graduate Education: It focuses on the study of the internal laws and characteristics of graduate education, systematically explores the basic theoretical issues of graduate education, provides a theoretical foundation for the disciplinary construction of graduate education studies, and promotes the formation and development of the discipline of graduate education studies.
2.Policy Research on Graduate Education: It focuses on connecting with the Academic Degrees Committee Office of the State Council, the Department of Graduate Education of the Ministry of Education, and various competent departments of graduate education at all levels. It provides academic research support for the major strategic arrangements and policy formulation in the field of graduate education at the national, provincial, and municipal levels, and promotes the scientization of graduate education decision-making.
3.Practical Research on Graduate Education: Based on the practice of graduate cultivation at Xiamen University, it conducts empirical analysis on the laws and experiences of graduate cultivation at Xiamen University using large-scale survey data. It provides theoretical support and practical guidance for the reform and development of graduate education at Xiamen University, and refines the cultivation models and growth laws of high-level innovative talents.
Research Features:
1.Integration of Academic Research and Management Practice: It provides theoretical basis and data support for the scientization of decision-making.
2.Interdisciplinary and Cross-Disciplinary Integration: Centering on Xiamen University's "Three Maritime" characteristics (Strait, Maritime Silk Road, and Ocean) and its traditional strengths in liberal arts such as higher education studies, economics, management, and law, it advances relevant research by relying on the construction of interdisciplinary clusters.
Research Focuses
Macro Level: It attempts to solve the problems of scale, structure, quality, effectiveness, and sustainable development faced by the development of graduate education. It submits consulting reports and provides theoretical support for important national graduate education decisions.
Meso Level: It constructs the academic system of graduate education studies, forms new disciplinary growth points, and produces a batch of high-level research results.
Micro Level: It refines and summarizes the laws and characteristics of innovative talent cultivation at Xiamen University, identifies and improves existing problems, promotes the improvement of talent cultivation quality, and provides academic support for the construction of academic degree programs, disciplinary construction, and the reform of graduate education and teaching at Xiamen University.
Director of the Center
Xu Lan Email: xulan@xmu.edu.cn
Members of the Center
Bie Dunrong, Guo Jianpeng, Qin Hongxia, Bao Wei, Li Chengfeng, Guo Yirong, Huang Yifan, Yi Mengchun, Wang Yumei, Yan Yi, Wu Shengfang
Center for International Higher Education Research
Institutional Orientation: Rooted in China, the center serves the high-quality development of China's higher education and the construction of a strong nation in higher education, promoting the international exchange of academic research achievements in higher education, disseminating the experience of China's higher education development, and further expanding research and educational cooperation with relevant institutions of world-class universities.
Research Fields: The center mainly focuses on research in areas such as higher education in Southeast Asia, the United States, and Europe. Making full use of the university's strength in comprehensive disciplines, the center will collaborate with forces from relevant disciplines to conduct research focusing on themes including the research on the popularization and development of global higher education, the research on the internationalization of higher education, the comparative research on the development of university teachers, the research on the construction of first-class universities in developed countries, and the research on Sino-foreign cooperative education, aiming to become an internationally influential research institution in the field of international higher education.
Institutional Features: The center attaches great importance to international exchanges and cooperation. It has established academic cooperation and exchange relationships with schools of education at famous foreign universities such as Columbia University (USA), Boston College (USA), University of Massachusetts Boston (USA), University of Hull (UK), Hiroshima University (Japan), and Leiden University (Netherlands). It has also built close academic exchange and cooperation ties with higher education researchers from countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Japan, and Canada. Many internationally famous scholars have been invited to conduct academic exchanges here, and the center is gradually establishing cooperative relationships in the cultivation of graduate students in education with relevant institutions of world-class foreign universities.
Director of the Center
Wu Wei
Members of the Center
Bie Dunrong, Wang Pu, Lian Jinjun, Cai Xiuying, Yu Jingran, Yi Mengchun, Sun Xiujuan
Center for Fujian-Taiwan Higher Education Research
Institutional Orientation: By giving full play to the disciplinary advantages of higher education at Xiamen University, the center aims to build a bridge for academic exchange and cooperation among higher education researchers across the Taiwan Strait, and establish a cross-regional, interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborative platform for academic research on higher education. Through various forms of academic activities such as the exchange of higher education research results, the sharing of practical experience, and the joint implementation of research projects, it promotes the prosperous development of higher education on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Research Fields
1.Theoretical Research on Higher Education Across the Taiwan Strait: Share theoretical research results on higher education from both sides, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in theoretical research on higher education across the Strait, and promote the construction of higher education disciplines.
2.Research on the Construction of High-Level Universities and Institutional Development Across the Taiwan Strait: Focus on case analysis and research on institutional development issues. It analyzes the school-running models, management models, talent cultivation models, and university culture construction of high-level universities on both sides of the Strait, and provides consulting services for the strategic development planning of institutions and the improvement of their school-running standards across the Strait.
3.Research on Higher Vocational and Technical Education Across the Taiwan Strait: Track the hotspots of reform and development of higher vocational education on both sides, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in practical and theoretical research on higher vocational education across the Strait, and provide services for higher vocational colleges to improve their school-running quality.
4.Research on Private Higher Education Across the Taiwan Strait: Grasp the dynamics of reform and development of private education on both sides, study the trends of reform and development of private education across the Strait, and provide research and consulting services for the operation and development of private schools.
5.Research on the Current Situation and Trends of Higher Education Exchanges and Cooperation Across the Taiwan Strait: Establish a database of higher education exchanges and cooperation across the Taiwan Strait, and track the progress of higher education exchanges and cooperation between the two sides.
Director of the Center
Li Guoqiang
Members of the Center
Zhang Baorong, Hong Zhizhong, Chen Bin, Zheng Hong, Yi Mengchun
Center Email
mtgjyj@xmu.edu.cn
