Editor's Note: Pei Zhen, Professor of School of International Economics and Trade, won the 2016 ‘Baosteel Outstanding Teacher Award’. Baosteel Education Award is one of the public welfare establishments tenured by Baosteel Education Foundation for China’s higher education, which is one of the country’s most well-known education award funded and set up by Baosteel Group Co., Ltd., guided and supported by the government, planned and consulted by the experts, and actively participated in by the colleges and universities.
Pei Zhen holds a strong sense of career-ambition, unity and cooperation spirit, dedication, noble morality and rigorous attitude. In the past 28 years, she has always been working in the first line of teaching, and undertaking the school’s teaching tasks of ‘Microeconomics’ and ‘Macroeconomics’ which are both common core courses; meanwhile, she has been responsible for guidance of graduation thesis, and her average annual work has exceeded the workload in the recent three years.
Pei Zhen is proper in attitude, strong in responsibility, passionate in teaching, abundant in teaching experience and excellent in teaching effect. She believes that economics is a highly theoretical subject, and how to teach the basic theory of economic that fits the ever-changing environment of domestic and foreign markets is an important prerequisite for teaching relevant courses in economics. In her long-term teaching work, she has formed her own teaching characteristics, that is, pay attention to the combination of the basic theory teaching and the actual economic situation; focus on the teaching and research, as well as the cultivation of the students’ interests; the teaching goal shall be clear, the overall situation shall be fully grasped, the arrangement shall be reasonable, and the knowledge points shall be interrelated and presented in a vivid way to the students; and lay emphasis on a combination of a variety of methods, especially on comprehensive use of modern means such as the combination of multimedia technology and network teaching.
At present, the online click of the ‘Macroeconomics’ in the course center ranked the first in the school, which has reached over 120,000. And Pei Zhen has extended the teaching beyond the classroom, which efficiently broadened the teaching from time and space and achieved good teaching results. Student’s evaluation score of each semester is always above 90 points.
Paying Attention to Education and Teaching Reform and Construction of Academic Infrastructures
1. Taking the fine course construction as a platform to promote the curriculum reform
After years of construction,‘Macroeconomics', the fine course program of Shanghai hosted by Pei Zhen, has been explored and constantly improved in teaching principles, contents, methods and means, cases studies, curriculum tests and other primary teaching sections. And the construction results have been reported for Shanghai High Quality Online Course Construction Project as the Quality Online Course.
2. combining with Lixin characteristics to strengthen the construction of special materials.
Pei Zhen had organized and prepared the‘Macroeconomics', the key textbook of the 12th “Five-Year Plan” for general college economics and published the supporting set of exercises as well, meanwhile, she provided the self-built ‘Macroeconomics cases library ’ in the website of courses center, which greatly offered the convenience for the study of students and teaching of the teachers. This textbook has been printed more than 15,000 columes.
3. actively undertaking all levels of teaching and research projects to enhance education and teaching ability
Pei Zhen has been summarizing the education and teaching experience, actively organizing the team for application of various teaching and research projects and achieved the excellent effect. The fine course construction of macroeconomics had obtained the second prize of annual school-level teaching reward in 2008, and the teaching team of this macroeconomics had been nominated as the school-level outstanding teaching team. Based on the teaching reform project of talent cultivation mode and practice for international economic and the trade professionals, the specialty construction program of international economic and trade had acquired the second prize of annual school-level teaching reward in 2013. The program of ‘the exploration of the professional tutorial system for Undergraduate Colleges under the background of the key teachers’ incentive plan’ was approved as the key teaching reform project of Shanghai in 2015. And she was named the teaching master in 2015.
Teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, focusing on the cultivation of students' five abilities
Since Pei Zhen serve as the dean of College of Economic and Trade, she particularly took the construction of teaching team as emphasis, the practice base as support, and the international cooperation as means to actively develop the reform of personnel training model, which greatly improved the five abilities of the students and achieved excellent results.
1. taking the construction of teaching team as the core to enhance the overall education and teaching capability
Pei Zhen fully took advantage of the 4th group of education highland platform of ‘international economy and trade’ to strengthen the important role of the teacher studio led by herself in the process of enhancing the teachers’ education and teaching ability. Through carrying out the young teacher tutor system for the new teachers and setting example by herself, Pei Zhen has been cultivating the young teachers, and establishing the younger, highly educated, international team of teachers. By taking advantage of collective lesson preparation, teaching salon, listening and evaluating the class, tutoring and other means, some young teachers have quickly become the backbone of teaching.
Pei Zhen pays attention to education and teaching sections to expand the international vision, and vigorously promote the pace of internationalization. Through the young teachers visiting overseas, excellent students conducting overseas exchange, introducing the overseas professors into Lixin, introducing excellent cooperation courses and advanced personnel training concept from overseas universities, the teaching tam of the college, the personnel training ability and level is expected to be enhanced. 16 teachers were sent to visit University of Cambridge, York University, University of California, Riverside, and other universities successively; and for the three overseas experts introduced, one was approved as Shanghai Youth Oriental scholars, and the other two people were granted the title of Shanghai overseas teaching master.
Pei Zhen actively encourages the teachers to practice in the Industry-University-Research Collaboration Bases to enhance the practical ability of teachers, enrich the classroom contents, and improve the students’ interest in learning. There are a total of 7 teachers went to the base for practice and improvement in the college which helped them introducing the practical knowledge into the classroom and effectively improving the students’ learning effect.
2, Taking advantage of the implementation of professional advisor system to innovate the education and teaching management system
In view of the fact that the inconsistency existing in between the content of teaching and social reality, the teachers' academic research and students' learning, students' ability and social needs , teachers and students’ communication, as well as the professional knowledge and innovation ability, Pei Zhen initiated the professional in-school tutor system in 2012, which made the college to achieve a full coverage of professional tutors, and nearly a thousand students all have their own professional mentor in college for four years. Professional tutor system has created the communication platform, academic platform, competition platform and practice platform between teachers and students, provided study guidance, ability enlightenment, occupation guidance for the students, which greatly compensates the deficiencies and deficits of the students’ education management carried out by only the counselor; meanwhile, the student-oriented concept is truly integrated into the new mode of the education, which enhances the effectiveness of the teaching and educating work, and achieves a real sense of ‘teaching and educating people’. This work has played the demonstration role in the whole university.
3, to enrich the students’ overseas exchange project, expand students’ international vision, and enhance students' comprehensive ability
Pei Zhen advocates and actively promotes students to participate in international exchanges. And the college has developed a series of systems to encourage students to broaden the international vision, enhance language skills, and understand the forefront of foreign knowledge. The institute has established a partnership with the University of California, Riverside, Rennes School of Business in France, the Sunshine Coast University Business School in Australia, and the University of Niagara successively. Since 2011, more than 90 students have participated in the long-term and short-term international exchange programs, and each year, over 100 graduates go abroad for work or further studies.
4. to pay attention to the second classroom, extend the third classroom construction, and improve the students’ capability of innovation and entrepreneurship
Pei Zhen pays attention to the construction of the students’ second class. In 2011, Pei Zhen initiated the innovation practice project of college students in the school, which has been its sixth year now, and nearly a thousand students have participated in this project. It encourages students to use the holidays for social research and conduct the data analysis, and write research reports on this base, which greatly exercised the students’ five abilities.
Pei herself has instructed many students to participate in the innovation and practice projects of the college and school. Zhou Chao, as an example of the students she has instructed, had won the Shanghai summer practice outstanding project award of college students in 2012 through the project of ‘Local level public welfare, weaving dreams in Shanghai – the incubation and operation of the outstanding local level public welfare organization in Shanghai’.
The two school-level course competitions created and actively promoted by Pei Zhen, the ‘Economic Case Analysis Competition’ and the ‘comprehensive skills contest of foreign trade’, have been successfully held eight times, and become a school-level influential competition, building a great ability cultivation platform for the student and nearly one thousand students have attended these two competitions. The college students who participated in the POCIB for four times won multiple first prizes and second prizes.
On the basis of constantly enriching the contents of the second classroom, as well as reforming and innovating the third class through the exploration and accumulation, the college has formed a good atmosphere to encourage students to innovate and start their business, and the students actively take part in the school-level innovation and practical projects such as the ‘Tiaozhan Cup’, and ‘Zhixing Cup’, and have achieved fruitful results. In recent years, the college students have received more than 30 kinds of awards at the municipal level. Since 2011, the college summer social practice project has won the "Best Project" and "Excellent Project" of Shanghai Universities Students Summer Social Practice and other honors. In the eighth ‘Tiaozhan Cup’ of Shanghai Universities Students Entrepreneurship Competition, the team composed of Lixin students won one silver prize, three bronze prizes; and there are many students successfully started their own business.
To nurture teaching by academic research
Pei has been dedicated to the research on macroeconomic and service trade for long time, possessing a high theoretical level and academic foundation. She has published more than 30 papers at all levels, and presided over and participated in more than 10 projects of provincial and ministerial level and above. She is one of the early scholars starting an economic study of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, and her research results of ‘Industrial division and integration of Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration’ had won the approval of a number of experts, and the level of research was in the leading domestic level at that time.
Pei Zhen actively serves the community and constantly enhances the social services’ capacity of academic research through the scientific research activities. Through presiding over and participated in the decision-making and consulting projects of Ministry of Commerce, Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center, she obtained a command of the cutting-edge knowledge of this discipline. She organizes the students to actively participate in the projects research and data collection and analysis, which help the students to combine the macroeconomic analysis, national development strategy and the frontier issues of the international trade with the teaching practice to inspire the students to better grasp the theoretical knowledge. These means are greatly welcomed by the students, and have received better results of teaching and learning that benefits faculties, students, and research.
