The 1st SUIBE Forum in Economy and Trade kicked off on theafternoon of December 25, 2015. Qi Ming, Deputy Party Secretary andVice President of SUIBE delivered opening remarks and Qie Qing,Vice President of SUIBE declared the commencement of the forum. Theopening ceremony was also attended by Wang Lei, Deputy Director ofthe Division of Undergraduate Programs, Wang Guanglin, Dean of theSchool of Foreign Languages, Wen Jianping, Party Secretary of theSchool of Foreign Languages, Zhang Rong, Deputy Secretary of theSchool of Foreign Languages, Si Yaolong, Deputy Dean of the Schoolof Foreign Languages, Yang Cuiping, Deputy Dean of the School ofForeign Languages, and Wang Yong, Director of the Education andResearch Centre for College English.
An extension of two modules, i.e. English for Academic Purposes(EAP) and Academic Report Writing and Presentation, the forum wasdesigned to encourage students to apply their English languageabilities to the learning of professional knowledge and skills andpresent their research results in English on topics such aseconomy, trade, business management and finance. All the studentsfrom the 17 pilot classes took part in the project under teachers’guidance and each class selected one group to make a presentationon the forum.
Proactively responding to the call of the Shanghai EducationCommission and the Steering Committee of English Teaching inInstitutions of Higher Education in Shanghai, SUIBE started in 2013the reform on College English Teaching with a focus on EAP. Thereform is aimed at improving students’ abilities in using Englishfor academic and professional purposes so as to increase theircompetitiveness and inter-cultural competencies. The success ofthis forum was a testament to the effectiveness of the reform.