In a lively atmosphere, Guangdong Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) welcomed the 2024 Forum for Key High School Headmasters on April 11 to 13. The event gathered the Nobel Prize winner, academic experts, education department leaders, and more than 100 principals and teachers from nearly 70 high schools over the country to exchange ideas on innovative talent training and foster mutual communication.

At the forum, leaders and guests delivering speeches included Distinguished Professor Dan Shechtman of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, the 2011 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry; Prof. Chen Yongjun, Former Executive Deputy Director, Department of Cross-Science, National Natural Science Foundation of China; Dr. Yuan Jingyu, Level I Inspector of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education. Prof. Gong Xingao, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chancellor of GTIIT, made a keynote speech on “exploration of innovative talent training in accordance with the requirements of high-quality development".

Cultivate talents, foster innovation

“You are the most important people in China.”Facing the hardworking educators present, Prof. Dan Shechtman said. In his speech, he repeatedly stressed the progress that only innovation can bring. Referring to the story with his teacher and his practice of innovation and entrepreneurship courses, Prof. Dan Shechtman encouraged the teachers present to help students explore their talent and passion, and guide them to establish a lifelong pursuit of scientific research. 

When talking about how to balance between the academic requirements and innovation interests in middle school, Prof. Dan Shechtman said, "These are integrated missions. It can be one of the same." He encouraged teachers to bring innovative thoughts into the curriculum, stimulate students' creative thinking with open questions, and constantly lead them to extend the boundaries of thinking. In response to the doubts about "family education", Prof. Dan Shechtman specifically mentioned that "it is so important to give children a sense of security in family." He added that parents should give children more care from the details, "to carry them further in life with no fear from anything."

With the development of interdisciplinary integration, Prof. Chen Yongjun proposed that cross science has become an important way to tackle major scientific problems. He noted researchers need to cultivate a systematic and multidisciplinary way of thinking to build a multi-dimensional understanding of things. When it comes to talent training, he highly praised GTIIT’s running achievements, hoping that more educators can adapt to the urgent needs of the times, cultivate students' independent thinking, and guide them to creatively solve real problems.

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, big data, etc., new quality productive forces have become strong impetus for high-quality development. In line with its inherent requirements, Dr. Yuan Jingyu pointed out that the education in our country is shifting from the teaching of basic knowledge and skills to the cultivation of top innovative talents, which brings greater challenges to students' interdisciplinary ability and critical thinking. He fully affirmed the education effectiveness of GTIIT and hoped more secondary schools and students would come closer to the university. "Every talent from GTIIT will shine on the global stage!"

Strong academics, fruitful results

Prof. Gong Xingao mentioned it’s crucial to cultivate talents independently under the requirements of high-quality development, which also puts bigger challenges on educators. In his keynote speech, he further explained the difference between "science" and "technology" and stressed the significance of “getting to the root of the matter”. “GTIIT encourages innovative thinking, emphasizes students' ability to experiment, and tolerates failure." Introducing the innovation spirits of the Technion into China, GTIIT continues to upgrade its mode in nurturing innovative talents.

Prof. David Gershoni, Vice Chancellor of GTIIT, noted that the Technion has cultivated a large number of scientists and engineers, making outstanding contributions to the development of Israel. As the China campus of the Technion, GTIIT follows the high-quality teaching model as its headquarter and provides an international first-class teaching environment. So far, there have been three cohorts of students graduating from GTIIT and 80% of them were admitted to the world's top universities for further study, which demonstrates that its talent cultivation has been widely recognized.

"It’s vital to create a free academic atmosphere for top innovative talents." In the lecture, Prof. Lin Danming, Pro-Vice Chancellor of GTIIT pointed out that stimulating students' curiosity and thirst for knowledge is an important way to improve the science and engineering learning experience and enhance the learning effect. Taking the compilation of scientific research results from GTIIT undergraduate students as an example, he added that GTIIT has attached great importance to scientific research training and result-oriented education, which aroused the resonance of many educational practitioners on the scene.

GTIIT students with ambitions

"Although I attended the twelfth grade twice, four years later I am competing with students from the top universities in China." From being ranked 100,000th in Gaokao of Guangdong province to being admitted to Yale University, Li Huihong, a bachelor of 2024, has achieved great success at GTIIT. He said that the superior scientific research environment provided by GTIIT has laid a solid disciplinary foundation for him, and the "full page of scientific research resume" helped him stand out in the fierce competition.

"The hard-core ability of GTIIT students comes from the hard-core curriculum." Chen Mingxi, a GTIIT freshman majoring in Mathematics with Computer Science (MCS), spoke highly of the teaching here. Since the admission consultation, he was convinced by the "specialized" attitude of this university. After entering GTIIT, he actively explored the outside world, led the establishment of a scientific research association, and won a prize in a national competition in the first semester, taking a solid step towards his dream.

A bright future for GTIIT

At the meeting, a number of guests exchanged experiences and suggestions on topics such as curriculum setting, teacher team building, and all-round development of students in high school, making practical suggestions to high-quality education development amid lively interactions.

The teachers also visited the teaching buildings, the advanced laboratories, the broad gymnasium and the beautiful GTIIT Affiliated Bilingual School on campus, gaining a pleasant journey with the warm spring breeze.

After the immersive one-day trip, many guests said that GTIIT's achievements were amazing, and they hoped to establish more contacts with the university. At the roundtable discussion, a middle school principal said excitedly that the education model of GTIIT fits the needs of compound talents, "I hope there will be more universities like GTIIT in China to provide students with more time to grow!"

With the end of the forum, GTIIT will work closely with more high schools to write the chapter of education innovation in the new era.

Text/Photos: GTIIT News & Public Affairs