From October 27 to 31, a delegation of 11 members including faculty representatives from various colleges visited Singapore universities. The visit aimed to gain insights into the latest international concepts and practices in general education and to strengthen the exchange and cooperation between HXIT and Singaporean universities.
At Nanyang Technological University (NTU), our delegation received a warm welcome from NTU’s staff, who organized a comprehensive training program on general education. Professor Cui Feng from NTU’s Chinese Department presented on "Language, Education, and Society: From a Singaporean Perspective," discussing Singapore's history and multicultural makeup. Dr. Luo Ruikang, Director of the AUE Laboratory-a joint university-industry research project, who provided an overview of Singapore's education system and general education framework. Additionally, Dr. Lu Yunpeng, a senior lecturer, introduced the university's Interdisciplinary Collaborative Core Curriculum (ICC) in detail.
During the training sessions, both sides engaged in in-depth discussions on topics such as general education teaching methods, strategies to enhance student engagement, course selection processes, credit hour structure, and faculty evaluation methods. During the campus tour, features such as NTU’s water circulation purification pond, the distinctive "Xiaolongbao" student activity center, and the wooden-structure business school building left a deep impression on our team and provided valuable insights for our own campus construction and labor education practices.
At the National University of Singapore (NUS), our delegation was once again warmly received by university staff. Both sides explored topics related to the general education curriculum system. Subsequently, the delegation toured Yale-NUS College, the City Art Gallery, the Central Library, and the Student Activity Center, which provided first-hand exposure to the university’s multilingual and multicultural environment.
Li Cai, the vice president of HXIT emphasized that this investigation deepened our understanding of international higher education and strenghened our relationships with foreign universities. The general education models, curriculum systems, and operational mechanisms observed at Singaporean universities offer valuable references for advancing our own general education initiatives and accelerating HXIT’s internationalization efforts. It is hoped that the delegation members will fully leverage their experience, apply what they have learned, actively reflect on their findings, and make ongoing efforts to cultivate application-oriented talents with a global perspective.
