On December 30, the Symposium on Building a Powerful Nation through Education and Pan Maoyuan’s Thoughts on Vocational Education was held. The symposium focused on discussions around topics such as the development of vocational education under the strategy of building a powerful nation through education, and Mr. Pan Maoyuan’s thoughts on higher vocational education and their value. This symposium marked the 5th Symposium on Mr. Pan Maoyuan’s Educational Thoughts. Pan Shimo, former Executive Vice President of Xiamen University, and over 300 experts and scholars from universities across the country were invited to attend. The symposium was co-hosted by the Institute of Education of Xiamen University and Xiamen Nanyang Vocational College.
The opening ceremony of the symposium was presided over by Liu Zhentian, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Higher Education of Xiamen University.
At the opening ceremony, Lu Jiasheng, founder of Xiamen Nanyang Vocational College, first extended a warm welcome and sincere gratitude to the distinguished guests. He elaborated on the important significance of the symposium, called on more institutions to participate in the construction of the Research Institute for Pan Maoyuan’s Vocational Education Thoughts, and work together to carry forward and promote Mr. Pan’s spirit as an educator and his educational ideas, so as to contribute to advancing the high-level construction of vocational institutions and the high-quality development of vocational education.
In his speech, Pan Shimo, former Executive Vice President of Xiamen University, reviewed the educational life of his father, Mr. Pan Maoyuan. He noted that Mr. Pan had a “special affection” for private education and attached great importance to the significant role of private higher vocational education in developing social intellectual resources.
Lu Xiaoqin, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Xiamen Nanyang Vocational College, presented part-time researcher appointment letters of the Research Institute for Pan Maoyuan’s Educational Thoughts of Xiamen Nanyang Vocational College to 9 scholars, including Liao Yi, Vice President of the Guangdong Higher Education Association and former President of Shaoguan University.
During the keynote report session, 14 experts and scholars delivered reports. They included Hu Jianhua, former Dean of the School of Educational Science of Nanjing Normal University; Zhou Chuan, Dean of the Institute of Educational Science of Soochow University; Zhang Yingqiang, Distinguished Professor of Qiushi College of Zhejiang University; Lu Xiaozhong, Dean of the Higher Institute for Education Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, South China Normal University; Liu Zhiwen, Dean of the School of Vocational and Technical Education of South China Normal University; Hu Jianbo, Chairman of the Board of Xi’an Eurasia University; Liao Yi, Vice President of the Guangdong Association of Higher Education and former President of Shaoguan University; Fang Zeqiang, Vice President of Guangdong University of Industry and Commerce; Ma Liwu, Professor of Shenyang Normal University; Zhang Bowen, Vice Dean of the Guizhou Social Construction Research Institute of Guizhou University of Finance and Economics; Wu Genzhou, Director of the Higher Education Research Institute of Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University; Kang Naimei, Director of the Research Institute for Pan Maoyuan’s Educational Thoughts of Xiamen Nanyang Vocational College; Liu Haifeng from the Party and Government Office of Hohhot Minzu University; and Xu Miaomiao, Lecturer of Zhejiang Industry & Trade Vocational College.
Bie Dunrong, Dean of the Institute of Education of Xiamen University, delivered a summary of the symposium. He pointed out that this symposium not only demonstrated Mr. Pan Maoyuan’s rich and advanced thoughts on vocational education, highlighted Mr. Pan’s demeanor as a great educator whose educational ideas and practices are rooted in China’s context and care about the country’s needs, but also inspired the participating experts and scholars to inherit and carry forward Mr. Pan’s spirit as an educator. He highly summarized Mr. Pan’s thoughts on higher vocational education from seven aspects: type of education, student identity, quality standards, system construction, admission channels, teaching staff, and fund investment. He noted that the research on Mr. Pan’s thoughts on higher vocational education is forward-looking, which has pointed out the direction for the reform and development of higher vocational education institutions in China, played a guiding role in terms of ideology, and exerted an important impact on the formulation of national policies for the development of higher vocational education.
Huang Jianqiu, Vice President of Suzhou City University, delivered a speech on behalf of the host institution of the next symposium. He expressed his expectation that all experts and scholars would gather in Suzhou next year to continue deepening exchanges, inherit and carry forward Mr. Pan’s academic ideas and spiritual demeanor, and jointly explore new ideas and methods for the high-quality development of higher education.
Text by Yang Sishi
Image via Xiamen Nanyang University
Translated by:Dai Lan
