A symposium titled "Innovation • Development: Forum on the Academic Building of National First-class Japanese Language Majors" was held at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) on September 11 to further strengthen its academic building of Japanese studies, as well as relevant personnel training.

The symposium was co-hosted by BFSU, the Branch of Japanese Studies affiliated with National Advisory Committee on Teaching Foreign Languages to Majors in Higher Education under the Ministry of Education, the Chinese Society of Japanese Language Teaching, the BFSU School of Japanese and International Studies, the Beijing Center for Japanese Studies and Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press.

The symposium titled "Innovation • Development: Forum on the Academic Building of National First-class Japanese Language Majors" is held at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) on September 11.

During a meeting with representatives of attending experts held on the sidelines of the forum, Yang Dan, deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) BFSU Committee and president of the university, said the university will better align its development with national strategies and stay committed to the cultivation of high-level talents who are capable of utilizing foreign languages, learning about foreign culture and mastering enough qualifications for global governance.

The symposium titled "Innovation • Development: Forum on the Academic Building of National First-class Japanese Language Majors" is held at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) on September 11.

The BFSU has been extending full support to the academic building of both the School of Japanese and International Studies and the Beijing Center for Japanese Studies. Yang urged them to draw lessons from the valuable experience shared by attending experts and pool their wisdom to accelerate the development of their Japanese language majors.

Sun Youzhong, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC BFSU Committee and vice-president of the university, addresses the symposium.

Sun Youzhong, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC BFSU Committee and vice-president of the university, presented a report titled "Exploration of basic paths to deepen the academic building of first-class foreign languages majors and first-class courses”.

Sun, also a member of National Advisory Committee on Teaching Foreign Languages to Majors in Higher Education under the Ministry of Education, said building first-class disciplines and courses will be key to reform and innovation in China's higher education, as it has entered a new period of content-oriented and high-quality development.

Speaking in his themed report, Xiu Gang, a member of the Branch of Japanese Studies affiliated with National Advisory Committee on Teaching Foreign Languages to Majors in Higher Education under the Ministry of Education and former president of Tianjin Foreign Studies University, highlighted the importance of further strengthening the academic building of Japanese studies for undergraduate students to the survival and development of relevant majors.

Zhou Yifu, dean of the BFSU School of Japanese and International Studies, director of Beijing Center for Japanese Studies and head of the Chinese Society of Japanese Language Teaching, noted in his report that building first-class disciplines connected with Japanese studies depends on the capacity-building of relevant talents, which is crucial to the content-oriented development of Japanese studies-related majors.

Zhou stressed that the ultimate goal of innovating education models, launching reforms in  teaching activities and strengthening the building of teaching faculty is to cultivate the first-class talents of Japanese studies.

Xu Yiping, former director of the Beijing Center for Japanese Studies, Li Yunbo, dean of the School of Foreign Studies in the University of International Business and Economics, Leng Limin, a professor with the Department of Japanese in Beijing Normal University, and Chen Duoyou, a professor with the School of Japanese Language and Culture in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, presided over four parallel roundtable dialogues, where attending experts held intensive talks on topics related to the building of the first-class Japanese studies-related majors.

In his speech at the closing ceremony, Wang Junzhe, deputy director of the Branch of Japanese Studies affiliated with the National Advisory Committee on Teaching Foreign Languages to Majors in Higher Education under the Ministry of Education and former president of Xi'an International Studies University, said he hoped that BFSU will take the lead in the development of China's foreign language teaching, especially Japanese studies.

A group photo of attendees at the symposium.

Those in attendance at the symposium also included Japanese teachers from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Nanjing University, Jilin University and other top domestic universities.

The event was covered by a number of leading Chinese media outlets, such as People's Daily Online, Xinhuanet, China.org.cn and China Education Daily.