Dr. Denis Simons, the newly-appointed Vice Executive Chancellor of Duke Kunshan University, visited Wuhan University and delivered a lecture themed “The Talent Situation in Global Perspective: Stocktaking and Challenge”. The speech was given at the School of Philosophy on July 10th.
Li Fei, the Vice President of Wuhan University received Dr. Simons who, as an old friend of WHU, has prompted several cooperative programs between Arizona State University and Wuhan University back in March this year when Simons was still the Vice Provost of ASU. Li congratulated Simons on assuming the Vice Executive Chancellor role at Duke Kunshan University. Both Li and Simons agreed to further strengthen the relationship between WHU and DKU, tighten academic bonds, share resources and come up with joint projects to benefit both universities in the years to come.
Afterwards, Dr Simons went to the School of Philosophy where he delivered a lecture “The Talent Situation in Global Perspective: Stocktaking and Challenge”. Dr. Simons briefed the topic to the audience and described the top talent situation globally, adding that “Talent is the only sustainable edge in the 21st Century”. He then comprehensively and objectively analyzed the challenge facing creating and attracting talent and the advantages presented by various countries in this respect. Through a series of figures and graphs, he showcased differences and analogies with emphasis on the United States and China. In addition, he charted the most difficult positions to fill and the reasons underlying. He expected that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) areas would remain the main fields where top talents are wooed. In the new open economy, the competition among countries, enterprises and universities has boiled down to talents, whereas higher education institutions represented by universities and colleges play a vital role in the cultivation of talents. Dr. Simons mentioned that universities and companies should focus on nurturing several critical qualities in students or employees: critical thinking, global vision as well as the ability and awareness to work across borders and cultures. He believed that as long as universities grasp the opportunities laying in front of them and make necessary changes in pedagogy, academic conventions and study environment, then not only the universities themselves would become stronger, but also such measures would significantly shape the education of the talents needed in the new era.
In the interaction session, leveraging his own experience of working in 6 different universities over the past 30 years, Dr. Simons shared his valuable insight on talent cultivation, which is of great benefit to Wuhan University in its educational undertakings.
Dr. Simons will officially take office as the new Vice Executive Chancellor of Duke Kunshan University on August 1st 2015. As a world-renowned expert on China, Dr Simon has also won the Chinese National Friendship Award and is a member of foreign expert selection team of the Chinese State Administration for Foreign Experts Affairs.
(Edited by Diana & Sijia Hu)
