It is already ten years since the inception of Xinya College on September 27, 2014. The college has cultivated more than 500 graduates with solid general knowledge and professional knowledge covering over 40 majors in humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering. Over the past ten years, teachers and students of Xinya College have been working hard and pursuing excellence in general education, college construction, cross-majors and other fields to explore the path of cultivating world-class undergraduates.

On the morning of November 17, 2024, Xinya College of Tsinghua University held its 10th anniversary celebration in Lecture Hall B226, North Wing of No.10 Building. About 170 people got together to celebrate the significant 10th birthday of Xinya College. They are representatives from other universities and secondary colleges and departments of Tsinghua University. The ceremony was presided over by Zhang Weite, Deputy Dean of Xinya College.

Professor Zheng Li, Vice President of Tsinghua University, and First Dean of Xinya College, delivered a speech at the celebration. Mr. Zheng reviewed the development process of Xinya College from scratch. Professor Li Meng, Dean of Yuanpei College, Peking University, delivered a speech as a representative of the sister colleges. First of all, he extended sincere congratulations to Xinya College on its 10th anniversary and best wishes for a brighter future. Li pointed out that there are many similarities between Yuanpei College and Xinya College in educational philosophy, school-running orientation and practical exploration, and that both colleges undertake the mission of defining the significance of undergraduate education in first-class research universities. He hoped that the two sides could continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and work together to explore better undergraduate education in China.

Professor Huang Yusheng from the Department of Philosophy, Tsinghua University delivered a speech on behalf of the teachers of general education courses from Xinya College. He retrospected his teaching experience in Xinya College and spoke highly of the concept and practice of general education upheld by the college. Mr. Huang stressed that Xinya College has established good concepts, made a good start, accumulated good experience, and attracted excellent students and teachers in the past ten years. Xinya College's general education orientation of "integrating liberal arts and sciences and combining general education and professional education" is not to weaken or replace professional education, but to provide a broader foundation for professional education.

Speech by Professor Huang Yusheng

In the section of retrospecting the construction of Xinya College over the past ten years, Mei Ciqi, current Dean of Xinya College, gave a report titled "Finished and Unfinished: Reply to 2014". First of all, Mei reviewed the basic situation of Xinya College in the past ten years since its establishment. Afterwards, Mei shared his summary and reflection on Xinya College's operation over the past decade from three aspects: question setting, finished and unfinished. In the past ten years, Xinya College has given pertinent answers to three key questions about promoting teaching reform put forward by the university in 2014. First, Xinya College opened up a new direction for teacher-student exchanges via collegial life and interdisciplinary atmosphere, reproducing the scene of "small fish follow big fish"; second, Xinya College helped students learn to "embrace uncertainty" in the process of contacting with the real society through immersive and participatory practical activities; third, a high-level curriculum reform led to the emergence of high-quality general education courses, reshaping teachers and students' attitudes to and understanding of general education, and propelling the continuous change and innovation of classroom teaching modes. Mei recalled the importance and expectation attached to Xinya College, and wished the guests to continue to pay attention to, participate in and support the future development of Xinya College.

Dean Mei Ciqi delivers a ten-year development report of Xinya College

After a short and pleasant free exchange, the celebration moved into "Roundtable Forums" in the second half. Undergraduate education practitioners from both inside and outside the university discussed academy system and cutting-edge topics like artificial intelligence.

"Experience and Challenges of College Education in Universities" Roundtable Forum

In the first theme forum, experts had a heated discussion on "Experience and Challenges of College Education in Universities". The forum was presided over by Mei Ciqi.

College education was considered to be of great value in general education, interdisciplinary learning and the overall development of students. However, the development of college education is still restricted by such problems as uneven distribution of resources and lagging building of faculty. In the future, the colleges concerned will continue to explore ways suitable for their own development, bolster the building of faculty, and optimize resource allocation to provide students with higher-quality and personalized education. At the same time, we should continue to strengthen the exchanges and cooperation among colleges of various universities in order to jointly promote the prosperity and development of Chinese college education.

In the second roundtable forum, experts had a heated discussion on "Undergraduate Education in the Wave of Artificial Intelligence", which was presided over by Ruan Dong, Deputy Dean of Xinya College.

The attendees believed that artificial intelligence brings opportunities and challenges to undergraduate education. Universities should actively explore new models of empowering education with AI, emphasize the all-round development of students, strengthen communication between teachers and students, and cultivate versatile talent with both innovative ability and humanistic quality.

Scene of the gathering

On the afternoon of November 17, Dean Mei Ciqi, Deputy Dean Zhang Weite, other teachers of Xinya College and some alumni that graduated from Xinya College in different years sat around in the hall on 1F, North Wing of No.10 Building to chat about their recent life, study, reflection and confusion. When it came to the impact of Xinya College's general education on themselves, "courage to explore the unknown in chaos", "reflection on habitual views" and "understanding of the world's diversity" were frequently mentioned by alumni. The teachers and students present had pleasant and in-depth exchanges. Finally, Mei invited the alumni to often come back to Xinya College and provide suggestions and opinions on the college's future development.

Looking back, Xinya College has adhered to its original aspiration and goals. Upholding moral education as its tenet and cultivating "humans" as its guideline, the college has laid a foundation of cross-disciplinary study, general knowledge, professional knowledge and morality combined for its students. Looking ahead, teachers and students of Xinya College will adhere to the educational tradition of "connecting ancient and modern studies, integrating Chinese and Western studies, and combining liberal arts and sciences". We are looking forward to a more "new and elegant" next decade.