On January 4th, Nanjing University holds the Graduate Education Work Promotion Conference on Xianlin campus. The conference officially released the implementation plans for the "Sword-Casting Plan" and the "National Excellent Primary and Secondary School Teacher Training Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "National Excellence Plan"). Tan Tieniu, Chair of NJU CPC Council and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), attended the meeting.
In his speech, Tan Tieniu pointed out that in recent years, NJU's graduate education has adhered to the original mission of educating people for the Party and the nation, fully promoting the "Graduate Innovation and Quality Improvement Special Action", and has made significant progress in creating NJU's brand of "most innovative graduate education." He made specific arrangements for further adapting to new situations and requirements and carrying out the next phase of graduate education work. Tan Tieniu emphasized the importance of understanding the significance of graduate education in the new era. As a key intersection of education, technology, and talent, graduate education carries the important mission of cultivating high-level talents, promoting high-level technological self-reliance, and realizing the great cause of national construction and national rejuvenation. We must understand that graduate education in the new era is essential for maintaining strategic initiative in fierce international competition, accelerating Chinese modernization, and building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics.
Tan Tieniu stated that it is crucial to accurately grasp the new situations and requirements faced by NJU's graduate education work. He pointed out that there are still gaps between the effectiveness of current graduate ideological and political work and the requirements of the fundamental task of fostering virtue, between the graduate training model and the strategic needs of the nation for high-level talents, between the international academic vision of graduates and the era's requirements for promoting educational openness, and between the collaborative education pattern for graduates and the "three-wide education" requirements. These issues must be given high attention and efforts must be made to address them.
Tan Tieniu proposed three requirements for vigorously creating a new situation in NJU's graduate education work and emphasized the need to further liberate thoughts, unite and forge ahead, break through constraints with reform, and enhance quality through innovation, fully striving to eliminate bottlenecks hindering high-quality development of NJU's graduate education, and to create the "most innovative graduate education" brand, contributing new and greater efforts to accelerate the construction of a world-class university with Chinese characteristics, better supporting the modernization of "Strong, Rich, Beautiful, and High" New Jiangsu, and comprehensively advancing the great cause of national construction and national rejuvenation with Chinese-style modernization.
Yang Shubing, Deputy Director of the Jiangsu Education Department, fully affirmed the achievements of NJU's graduate education work. He stated that NJU has always synchronized with the times, shared the destiny with the nation, pursued national prosperity, and sought scientific progress, shining brightly on the map of higher education in China, and standing at the forefront of graduate education reform waves, shouldering the responsibility of demonstration and guidance with NJU'S commitment. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, NJU's discipline construction climbed to new heights, degree management was meticulously refined, and graduate education reform progressed steadily, presenting a remarkable era report card. Yang Shubing emphasized that graduate education is the main battlefield for high-level talent cultivation and the source of innovation and creation, directly related to the enhancement of national core competitiveness and the realization of the great cause of national rejuvenation. He hopes NJU's graduate education will seize the momentum and create further achievements, using reform as a sail to stand at the forefront and set benchmarks, using disciplines as the foundation to empower and cultivate talents, using collaboration as a bridge to promote development in unity with local governments, rooting deeply in the land of China, nurturing the fertile soil of Jiangsu, and continuing to write the chapter of progress in building a world-class university in the new era.
Zhou Zhihua, Vice President of NJU and Academician of the CAS, delivered a report on NJU's graduate education work titled "Accelerating the Enhancement of Graduate Innovation Ability and Integrating the Advancement of Education, Science, and Talent Development", providing an in-depth analysis of the overall situation of NJU's graduate education work. He summarized the achievements of the past year in graduate education from the construction of the School of Outstanding Engineers, the cultivation of "AI+" innovation capabilities, and the nurturing of graduate teaching achievements, and systematically outlined ten key tasks for graduate education in 2026. Zhou Zhihua emphasized that looking to the future, we must continue to adhere to ideological leadership and concerted efforts to unwaveringly strive for the creation of NJU's "most innovative graduate education" brand.
Jiao Ruihua, Vice Chair of NJU CPC Council, presided over the conference.
At the meeting, the implementation plans for the "Sword-Casting Plan" and the "National Excellence Plan" were officially released. According to Wang Xiaolei, Dean of the Graduate School, the "Sword-Casting Plan" focuses on national strategies and urgently needed areas, aiming to accelerate the independent cultivation of top-notch innovative talents, promote high-quality development of doctoral education, and strive to create the NJU model for cultivating "the most innovative doctoral graduates." The "National Excellence Plan" actively serves the national plan for strengthening basic education teachers and the education power strategy, relying on NJU's advantages in basic disciplines and distinctive educational features, aiming to cultivate a batch of "NJU-style" backbone teachers for primary and secondary schools with solid disciplinary foundations and deep educational passion.
Li Ning, Deputy Director of the Student Affairs Department of the NJU Party Committee, delivered a report on graduate ideological and political education, comprehensively summarizing last year's work. She stated that we must deepen the project of fostering virtue, anchor the fundamental task of education, construct a collaborative education ecosystem, nurture campus culture, deepen cooperation between schools and local governments and enterprises, and strengthen practice-based education.
Qu Xiaolei, Deputy Dean of the School of Outstanding Engineers, introduced the basic situation of the school's construction and development. He pointed out that we must further accelerate the substantive construction of the school, build an international base for cultivating excellent engineers, promote the reform of evaluation for engineering master's and doctoral degrees, deepen the integration of industry and education, and enhance high-quality student cultivation and employment, improving talent supply capabilities, serving discipline construction and evaluation.
Zhao Kun, Dean of the School of Atmospheric Sciences, and Wang Tingting, Deputy Dean of the Medical School, shared experiences and achievements in greenway reform and layered classification evaluation reform as representatives of the schools, stating that they will continue to optimize reform plans to assist in cultivating top-notch innovative talents, contributing more NJU wisdom to the advancement of graduate education reform and development. Professor Song Peijian from the Business School and Professor Xie Lei from the School of Computer Science shared practical experiences and insights on education work as mentor representatives, stating that they will fully create a good support system for students, foster a positive atmosphere, and guide them to correctly address uncertainties and new challenges on the research path.
The conference had sub-venues set up at the Xianlin, Gulou, and Suzhou campuses. Members of the university leadership team, main responsible persons of various departments and directly affiliated units, party secretaries and deans of various schools, vice deans and deputy secretaries in charge of graduate work, and related staff in graduate education management, as well as representatives of graduate mentors, attended the meeting.
