The faculty congress 2020 of the School of Political Science & International Relations is held

On January 21, 2021, the faculty congress of the School of Political Science & International Relations was held in Zhonghe Building. The meeting approved The Administrative Report of the School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University in 2020, The Financial Report of the School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University in 2020, Work Priorities for 2021 of the School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University, and The Work Report of the Labor Union the School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University in 2020. The meeting reviewed and summarized the work in 2020, and made an overall work plan for 2021. School leaders and all faculty members attended the meeting that was moderated by Song Bo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Labor Union of the School.

Professor Men Honghua, Distinguished Professor at Tongji and Dean of the School, gave the administrative and financial reports, and analyzed in detail the work priorities for 2021. As pointed out by Dean Men, in 2020, guided by the Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, the School thoroughly implemented the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress and the 2nd- 5th Plenary Sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee. In practice, remaining true to its original aspiration and keeping in mind its mission, the School adheres to the socialist school running principle to cultivate talents with morality. It values “openness, fairness, and justice” during governance, with the tenet of “building the School on sound institutions, prospering it through academic excellence, making it stronger through discipline development, and putting students first”. It pursued goal-driven development, promotes problem-based reform, and focuses on promoting connotative development. In 2020, the School fulfilled its mission in the fight against Covid-19 through commitment to teaching and research in a wartime state. Based on a solid foundation and unique features, it will sustain the rapid and positive momentum in the future. With a recognized academic brand, it will maintain its good reputation as one of the most active schools for political science and international studies in China.

Dean Men reviewed the progress of the School’s administrative work in 2020 from seven aspects as follows.

First, the School has improved the quality of undergraduate and graduate education to train high-quality talents despite the Covid-19 challenge. Breakthrough progress has been made in undergraduate teaching. The teaching management system has been further improved and has become more mature, and the teaching order and teaching effectiveness has also been improved. The School has successfully completed the “three all-rounds education” reform program to improve students’ international vision, and normalized the construction and implementation of undergraduate education reform programs. The School has successfully completed the on-campus self-evaluation of the two undergraduate programs – political science & administration and sociology. New progress has been made in postgraduate teaching and management. The quality of graduate dissertations has been further improved. The School is committed to improving the standardized management of dissertation and creating a good academic atmosphere through a regular and institutionalized process of duplicate checking.

Second, the School has worked hard to help students grow into talents with the goal of Party building and pilot school construction. It has strengthened the development of the student Party branch systems and mechanisms, promoted the special projects of the student Party branch, and actively guided students to practice the core socialist values. It has further improved the collaborative education mechanism involving counselors, class teachers, tutors, and professional teachers. It has advanced the education through practice, culture, and precise services by carrying out innovative practices and activities that can carry forward the fine Chinese traditional culture, and promoting learning assistance, career development guidance, physical and mental development, and helping minority students. A team of resident tutors composed of the dean, secretary and 9 female teachers has made great efforts in all-round education, with notable results achieved.

Third, the School has built a solid foundation and highlighted the characteristics, making ongoing efforts to advance discipline construction and various evaluations. In 2020, the final year for the construction of the first-class disciplines in social sciences of Tongji University, the School led the final evaluation on the “European Studies” in the first-class discipline construction of Tongji University, which was generally recognized by the university leaders and experts participating in the evaluation. With regard to the “final exam” for political science & administration and sociology, the two undergraduate programs of the School, the evaluation expert group fully recognized their training systems, teaching and research results, international exchanges, and training effectiveness. The School confidently participated in the fifth round of discipline evaluation. As early as in June, it got prepared in advance by comprehensively sorting out data and carefully selecting materials for the evaluation.

Fourth, the School has consolidated the key directions of scientific research to focus on building a stronger scientific research team and expand the space for scientific research cooperation. As to the structure of scientific research results, the School has achieved a transformation from quantity-oriented to quality-oriented. It has won the second prize and the third prize of the 8th Outstanding Achievement Award for Scientific Research (Humanities and Social Sciences) of Institution of Higher Learning in the book category. It has newly obtained 30 projects or subjects including several major key projects in philosophy and social sciences of MOE. Faculty members have published multiple papers and works. Professors Men Honghua, Li Bin and Qiu Huafei were awarded the title of Advanced Individuals for Scientific Research of Tongji University in the 13th Five-Year Plan period. The School has held 12 sessions of Tongji Serial Lectures on Social Sciences, and hosted or co-hosted the online seminar “Global Fight against Covid-19 and Governance”, the seminar series “Covid-19 and International Relations”, the forum “Evolution of International Environmental and Trends of National Strategy”, the 3rd China Youth Strategy Forum, “Conversation with the Editor-in-Chief”, and other academic activities.

Fifth, the School has served the country’s strategic needs by strengthening institutionalized cooperation with national ministries and commissions, and taking its think tank to a higher level. Based on an initiative and consciousness of serving major decisions of the country, and with a focus on governance and strategy, the School continues to deepen and expand cooperation with a number of national ministries and commissions including the Office of the National Security Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. It has actively undertaken projects commissioned by these ministries and commissions, participated in internal consultation meetings upon invitation, and submitted high-quality consultation reports for policymakers to offer advice and suggestions for the diplomatic strategy and socio-economic development of the country. Many reports were adopted by the General Office of the Central Committee, relevant national ministries and commissions, and provincial government departments, and many reports received positive comments from the central leaders, making the School a key academic partner with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Department of the CPC Central Committee. The Institute for China & World Studies and the School of Political Science & International Relations continue to jointly hold colorful academic activities, helping build a reputation for the team of strategists at Tongji.

Sixth, the School has continued the double degree program to promote the internationalization of student training and advance online international exchanges. In recent years, the School has ranked among the top across the university by key indicators such as international student enrollment. It has successfully completed the defense of international students on a double master’s degree program by using online tools. It carried out a variety of online or hybrid international exchanges. The School continued to carry out high-end academic exchanges with international partners from South Korea and Japan, etc., including jointly hosting the seminars on “China-Japan-KOR Cooperation after the Outbreak of Covid-19” and on “China-Korea Cooperation after the Outbreak of Covid-19”, and the 2nd China-Japan Economic Dialogue, and the 5th Shanghai-Busan Cooperation Forum.

Seventh, the School has continued to strengthen institutional development and focused on the effect of institutional implementation to improve its governance. It has fully implemented the policy of “building the School on sound institutions” by formulating or revising a number of institutional regulations on decision-making, Party building, cadre appointment, and student management. After application, it was approved as a demonstration school of Tongji University for law-based governance in a pilot project, which may make the governance of the School more standardized and institutionalized. The School has established a regular system for faculty’s study of political theories, adhered to the system of convening general meetings and academic committee meetings, actively promoted the establishment of a communication mechanism for in-depth exchanges between school leaders and teachers and students, and set up a risk prevention mechanism for Covid-19.

Then Dean Men explained in detail the School’s work priorities for 2021. In 2021, the School will embark on a new journey towards goals set out in the 14th Five-Year Plan in the spirit of “taking ten years of growing a tree” by reference to the positive efforts during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. Guided by the Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, the School will continue to thoroughly implement the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress and the 2nd-5th Plenary Sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee. The School will keep to the set course of cultivating talents with morality. Remaining true to its original aspiration and keeping in mind its mission, the School will firmly grasp and actively shape a new period of strategic opportunities for the development of the School and its disciplines, unremittingly focus on promoting connotative development, and fully launch the comprehensive construction of first-class school and disciplines. Efforts shall be made to: (1) comprehensively strengthen the Party’s leadership and make solid progress in the Party building; (2) consolidate the foundation of discipline construction and adjust and improve the discipline design; (3) strengthen the connotative development to comprehensively improve talent training quality; (4) carry out the fundamental task of cultivating talents with morality and continuously improve the level of education; (5) promote organized scientific research to improve the quality of scientific research; (6) serve the new “dual circulation” development pattern and promote internationalization solidly; (7) accelerate the building of a high-level faculty team based on a combination of social recruitment and in-house training; and (8) deepen strategic cooperation with national ministries and commissions to serve the country’s major strategic needs.

After careful review and voting by all faculty members, the School unanimously approved The Administrative Report of the School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University in 2020, The Financial Report of the School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University in 2020, Work Priorities for 2021 of the School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University, and The Work Report of the Labor Union the School of Political Science & International Relations, Tongji University in 2020.

Before the meeting, the School commended outstanding teachers in the annual assessment of 2020. Professor Li Bin, Professor Yu Minjiang, Associate Professor Lyu Rui, and Assistant Professor Liu Xiaoyang were named university-level excellent teachers, and Professor Xia Liping, Professor Qiu Huafei, Associate Professor Wang Fuqin, Associate Professor Zhong Xiaohua, Teacher Xu Jingfei, Associate Professor Sun Ming, Teacher Shao Liqun, Associate Professor Zhao Pingli, and Teacher Gong Zhenmeng were named school-level excellent teachers. The School called for learning from these outstanding teachers and solid progress of various tasks!

Professor Xu Hong, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School, pointed out that the faculty congress is an important approach to democratic management for the School. She warmly congratulated the achievements in the administrative and labor union work and thanked all the faculty members for their hard work. She called on them to make persistent efforts and take initiative to drive the School for better achievements.

Dean Men concluded that in 2020, the School had many highlights and delivered excellent results. On behalf of the leadership team, he expressed heartfelt thanks to all faculty members for their understanding, support and hard work. He noted that the School deems 2021 a year of development driven by innovation, and everyone is expected to contribute to the innovation-driven development of the School, achieve more brilliant results, and jointly take the School to a next level.