On April 10, the Award Ceremony and Academic Exchange Seminar of the Hongyi Honor College’s 5th Academic Exchange Month was held successfully, with the theme of “Knowledge Exploration and Research Discovery in Basic Disciplines”. Instructors and student representatives from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanjing University and other top universities in China participated in a series of activities.

In the morning, the Award Ceremony was held in the academic report hall of the WHU Library. Zhou Yezhong, Vice President of WHU, attended the ceremony and presented awards to the winners. He spoke about the significance of cultivating a large group of strategic scientific talents, leading technological talents and high-level innovation teams of international standard. Consequently, it is a necessity for top universities to put emphasis on basic subjects and build a solid foundation for talents’ future development.

Then, Zhang Shaodong, Dean of the Undergraduate College of WHU, announced the award winners. Among more than 130 academic achievements, 7 were given for the first prize, 10 for the second and 12 for the third. After that, seven representatives exhibited their research results and shared their experiences with the audience. Their stories illuminated the audience, conveying the encouragement that only with a strong will and a passion for scientific research can one purchase his or her own success.

Participants at the Award Ceremony

In the afternoon, the Academic Exchange Seminar in different disciplines was conducted in the Sixth Teaching Building. Teachers and students from different universities were divided into seven discipline-specific seminars: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, literature and sinology, and philosophy and history.

In each seminar, student representatives showed the progress they have made in their research fields. Attendees not only had a discussion around the showcase topics of the award-winning achievements, but also talked about the confusion and problems in their study. Questions from students were either specific or abstract, with specific ones like how a freshman could find an opportunity to enter a laboratory, and with abstract ones like whether there was pure passion for academic research or not. During the seminars, there was no visible distinction between instructors and students. They just communicated ardently with each other and learned from one another.

Participant discussion during the Philosophy and History seminar

Rather than an academic conference with a serious atmosphere and pre-arranged presentations or lectures, this Academic Exchange Month was full of laughter and easy communication among those from different universities but with the same inspiration towards knowledge. It eventually ended with the expectations for the 6th Academic Exchange Month next year.

Photo by Zhang Zhiru, Hongyi Honor College of WHU

Edited by Qin Zehao, Wei Yena, Zou Xiaohan