On the morning of July 18th, the opening ceremony for Wesleyan College of Guangzhou University was held in our school. Nearly 200 people attended the ceremony, including leaders from the City Bureau of Education, Guangzhou Women's Federation and other institutions, teachers and students from American Wesleyan College and our school.Principal of GU Zou Cairong, President of Wesleyan College Knox, Director of the City Bureau of Education Qu Shaobing and other leaders jointly inaugurated the college.
Wesleyan College of Guangzhou University was established by our school in collaboration with American Wesleyan College and enrolls female students only, aiming at cultivating female international elites. The College will introduce the idea of "liberal arts education" and give specialized courses in English or bilingually. The students will finish professional courses in two schools in the mode of "1 + 1 + 2" and eligible graduates will receive diplomas from both American Wesleyan College and Guangzhou University. The College will enroll 100 students in September in business management, economics and applied psychology. It is said that the establishment of the college along with projects of credit transfer is the first phase of our cooperation with American Wesleyan College and will be followed by the establishment of Guangzhou Wesleyan College as a secondary college of Guangzhou University after the examination and approval of the Ministry of Education.
With a history of 170 years, Wesleyan College is known as the first college to grant higher education degrees to women. It is also the Song sisters’ alma mater and is still regarded as one of the best liberal arts colleges in the United States.
Principal Zou Cairong said that as the oldest women’s college, Wesleyan College was well known for its philosophy and practice of elite women’s education featuring liberal arts education and its outstanding alumnae including the famous Song sisters. The establishment of Wesleyan College of Guangzhou University was of far-reaching historical and realistic significance. Guangzhou University would continue its pursuit of excellence, comprehensive development and quality education, strive to broaden students' international vision and improve students' comprehensive quality and competitiveness, try to create a new model of cooperation in education between China and the United States and continuously improve the level of internationalization of the university in order to cultivate more highly qualified, excellent female international talents for Guangzhou, Guangdong province and even the whole country.
Principle of Wesleyan College Dr. Knox said that like their distinguished predecessors the Song sisters, the students in Wesleyan College of Guangzhou University would study in the environment representing Wesleyan’s philosophy and features of education in the past hundred years, develop comprehensively and achieve their goals. The President believed that through a liberal education respecting the student individuality and focusing on the development of personal potentials, the graduates of the college would have the ability to change the world.
Director of the City Bureau of Education Qu Shaobing highly praised the efficiency and sincerity of the cooperation between the two institutions as Wesleyan College of Guangzhou University was established only a year after the inauguration of Wesleyan Confucius Institute in Macon in the US on April 11th last year. He also expressed his confidence that the college would help to enhance the international education of GU and foster more international talents.
After the ceremony, Principal Zou signed with Su Pei, the president of Guangzhou Women's Federation, an agreement on co-construction of the college. It is reported that our school and American Wellesley College will invite the Women's Federation and related organizations to get involved and plan to build in our university the Song Sisters’ Memorial on the theme of their significance in Chinese history.
Source: the Publicity Department
English Editor: Yang Hong
Chinese