A consulting event was held for the Class of 2022, who were admitted and have been cultivated according to their aptitude for and interest in general academic disciplines, to help them obtain more information for their decision about their majors.
The event took place on May 19 at the multi-purpose gym at Shahe campus, with over 3,100 participants. Among them were Huang Haijun, Vice President of Beihang, Zhao Gang, Vice Secretary of the Party Committee, representatives from relevant competent departments, Beihang School and the schools that fall within the general categories of informatics, aeronautics and astronautics as well as the Experimental Class of Science and the Experimental Class of Social Sciences, the freshmen of Beihang School and some of their parents.
For this event, each school involved sent a team to provide in-depth and detailed answers to the questions proposed by the freshmen and their parents. The team was led by its Dean and Secretary of the Party Committee and mainly consisted of professors with outstanding academic achievements. In addition, the promotional videos of the schools were played in turn on the large screens situated at the two sides of the gym, showing their vitality and features. Pieces of work in drones, racing cars, biomedicine and so on were also put on display on the spot.
As Mr. Huang and Mr. Zhao visited every stand, they exchanged ideas with the teachers about the cultivation plans of different majors and talked with students and parents to understand their doubts and needs for information.
At the stands, the students raised questions one after another about the advantages, featured courses and future directions of the majors, and the teachers gave vivid answers by combining relevant cutting-edge knowledge, exhibits and examples from everyday life.
The event helped enhance the freshmen’s understanding of majors, schools and their wider range of choices, motivating them to study harder and the schools to cultivate them better. It laid a good foundation for their decision on majors.
Cao Yueran, a student of Fengru College, considered the biggest advantage of the cultivation model in which the freshmen could choose courses from general categories as a solution to the “blind” choice of major made when they took the national college entrance exam. “This model provides us with a one-year period during which we inform ourselves of the courses, future employment and cultivation plans of the majors we are interested in through various approaches offered by the university and the colleges,” said Cao.
Xiao Yisong, a student of Shie College, offered a specific example for the informatics category: “We have courses related to the majors we can choose, covering electronic design, engineering graphics, programming and so on. We also have introductory courses to software, cyberspace security and other topics, which are designed by five schools. These courses inform us of the learning content and research directions of the majors. Besides, our college invites some of the biggest names in the industry and the academia as well as celebrated teachers to deliver lectures on their researches or understanding of the industry, which helps us gain better knowledge of the majors and the future development. Our instructors also show us around the laboratories and explain their studies to us.”
According to a parent of a student of Shoue College, the cultivation model “provides more opportunities and platforms to the freshmen and helps them choose the major they like on a basis of full knowledge and interest”.
To improve the students’ understanding of the majors and the guidance provided to them, the colleges and schools have also held a diversity of activities, such as Dean Forum and School Opening Day, to publicize the majors. For example, Shie College held a series of lectures, in which the deans and teachers were invited to have face-to-face talks with the students to help them make a reasonable choice. Fengru College, Shijia College and Shoue College held a publicity week for aeronautic and astronautic majors, which involved visits to materials laboratories and astronautic enterprises, a showing of aeronautics-related films, a video about reliability made of clips from over 100 blockbusters, exhibitions of smart transportation and the scientific and technological innovations in the field of medicine, face-to-face talks with influential experts in instrumentation, etc. The Dean Forum of Zhizhen College introduced disciplines of economy, management, mathematics, physics, space, environment and so on in a fascinating way, and that of Zhixing College provided the most authoritative information about the majors.
Schools whose majors are available to the freshmen of Beihang College:
Informatics: School of Electronic and Information Engineering, School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, School of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Software, School of Cyberspace Security, and School of Microelectronics.
Aeronautics and Astronautics: School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering, School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, School of Transportation Science and Engineering, School of Reliability and Systems Engineering, School of Astronautics, Flight College, and School of Instrumentation Science and Opto-electronics Engineering.
The Experimental Class of Science: School of Economics and Management, School of Mathematics and Systems Science, School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering, School of Chemistry, and School of Space and Environment.
The Experimental Class of Social Sciences: School of Humanities and Social Sciences (School of Public Administration), School of Foreign Languages, School of Law, Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences.
Written by Liang Jingyu and Zhang Qing
Photographed by Di Bailu, Liu Quqi and Su Xiangyu
Reviewed by Yu Min and Fan Ying
Edited by Jia Aiping and Li Mingzhu
Translated by Li Mingzhu
