The bell was ringing to signal the beginning of the class on the morning of February 25, 2019, the first day of the spring semester at Nanjing University. Hu Jinbo, secretary of the CPC’s Nanjing University Committee, walked into the class along with students and took a seat for the lecture on General Astronomy, a course offered by Professor Li Xiangdong from School of Astronomy and Space Science.

The classroom

At the first class of the semester, Professor Li Xiangdong stood in front of more than 50 second year students who are just beginning their journey to the field of astronomy. He introduced the characteristics, basis and methods of astronomy and interpreted astrophysical concepts, major content, objectives and requirements of the course. It was a vivid and informative introduction.

After the class, Hu Jinbo spoke highly of Li’s class. Professor Li’s class was inspiring with simplicity and profundity and advancing gradually with careful and detailed analysis, said Hu.

Li’s explanation of teaching goals and curriculum requirements was simple and clear, and the introduction to the course content and learning methods was elaborated with pictures, succinct captions, and accurate examples. The rhythmic progress of the class and the favorable classroom climate were conducive to students’ grasp of the core points, Hu continued his comments.

The class showed the level of Nanjing University’s “Gold Medal Course,” summed up Hu.

Hu Jinbo and his fellows attend the lecture.

It is a fine tradition of Nanjing University for university leaders to observe classes, said Hu. This, according to him, shows the importance the university attaches to the undergraduate education, and such class observation should be standardized and implemented as an institutional rule in the future.

Personnel cultivation is the foundation and undergraduate education is the root cause, he said. The first requirement of “the first NJU” is “the best undergraduate education,” which cannot be achieved without the best teachers and the curriculums.

Classroom teaching, said Hu, constitutes a significant part of improving the “Three-All Education” (All-Faculty, All-Time and All-Aspects Education), the “Five Aspects Education” (moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetics and labor education), and the “Furnace Project” that combines moral education with talents nurturing.

To achieve “the best undergraduate education,” Hu continued, we should take students as the center of teaching and their inquiry ability as the point of departure, proceed from the standard of educating qualified socialist builders and reliable successors, deepen the teaching reform, strengthen the construction of high-quality courses, improve the teaching quality guarantee system, create more “Gold Medal Courses” like “General Astronomy,” and cultivate more teachers like Professor Li Xiangdong who are deeply loved by students.

We should also teach in accordance with students’ needs and aptitudes, achieve the unity of classroom teaching and practical training, and effectively educate talents for the Party and the country, said Hu.

Hu Jinbo chats with Professor Li Xiangdong

Hu was accompanied by relevant personnel from the university’s Office of Teaching Affairs.

Source: Office of the CPC Nanjing University Committee