Nine state governing comprehensive universities (SC9) attended its 22nd conference themed “Intensify comprehensive reforms” and signed a strategic agreement for further cooperation on Oct 20.

SC9 was set up in 1994 and consisted of nine major comprehensive universities listed in the country’s “211 Project”, namely Liaoning University, Nanchang University, Inner Mongolia University, Shanxi University, Soochow University, Northwest University, Xinjiang University, Yunnan University and Zhengzhou University, and it was aimed to be a platform for exchanges and mutual advancement among the nation’s provincial comprehensive universities. Representatives from the nine members posed for a group photo after the signing ceremony on Oct 20, 2016. [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]

At the conference, the nine universities signed a strategic assignment concerning issues including discipline development, talents cultivation, academic researches, international exchanges and public service platforms.

They also determined the emblem of the SC9 society as well as the highlight of its first symposium to be the design of the economics discipline.

The conference was a forum for discussions about the challenges and opportunities facing the integrated reforms of the nine universities. Principal officials delivered lectures respectively at the meeting.

Shi Shuai, Shanxi University’s Party Secretary, gave a speech at the opening ceremony on Oct 20, 2016. [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]

Shi firstly extended a warm welcome to all attendees and congratulation on the meeting. He said, SC9 was once founded to explore creative ways for comprehensive universities’ development 22 years ago and proved its great contribution to the progress of higher education. He outlined Shanxi University’s accomplishments in reform and promised to fulfill its mission as an active part of SC9. Finally he concluded his talks with the prospects of attendees’ more exchanges and sharing at the event.

Wang Yun, deputy director of Shanxi province’s Education Department, said SC9 a pioneer to unite local universities to push higher education forward, and spoke highly of its gains in the past 22 years. The meeting, he said, is of much importance as emerging problems are posing greater demands for local educational institutions in different regions.

Sun Guohua, Deputy Party Secretary of Northwest University, analyzed the driving forces for regional integrated colleges’ restructures and reported the school’s explorations, opportunities and challenges in its reforms. [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]

Jia Suotang, president of Shanxi University, made a keynote speech at the conference. [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]

Jia Suotang, Shanxi University’s president, pointed out the nine members of SC9 should concentrate communications on joint efforts for more educational resources. The nine universities, he said, in spite of varied levels of education, were confronted with the same threats covering the country’s uneven financial investment to higher education, limited autonomy for school operation, education mechanism deficiencies and short of gifted people. He stressed that there must be a large number of provincial universities to rise together to make China an actually modern and high-tech country. He suggested that SC9 insist on incessant innovations to become a pre-eminent Chinese brand and platform to attract the world’ enormous and remarkable theories and practices in education. He instructed Shanxi University to improve the awareness of crisis and mission and hoped to work with peer institutions in the future.