Feb. 22, 2006,SIS
As the new year comes, School of International Studies (SIS) of Zhejiang University (ZJU) receives a big news: SIS gets the official
approval to awarding doctoral degree in one of the second-level disciplines of foreign language subject: English Language and
Literature.This brings to an end SIS history of being the last school enjoying no doctoral degree programs. On the other hand,
this means the fulfillment of the same dream of generations of scholars in foreign language studies at ZJU and in Zhejiang Province
as a whole. So far, each school in ZJU has been granted to award doctoral degrees.
SIS is one of the excellent schools in ZJU with a long history and excellent school-running traditions. Throughout the years, the foreign
language subject in ZJU has turned out a great number of masters and scholars in the field, such as Chen Jia, Bo Bing, Fang Chong,
Qiu Ke’an, Qi Shuhan, etc., which has not only made great contributions to the development of foreign language studies in China, but
also put ZJU at a rather high position in the area of foreign language teaching and research in the country. However, for some reasons,
foreign language subject in SIS never succeeded in gaining the authority to award doctoral degree, which to some extent became a
stumbling block for its further development. Facing the increasingly fierce competition in the field of foreign language studies at home
and new demands of the international community, SIS concentrates on reforming and practicing innovation persistently. With the
collective intelligence and willingness of the whole staff and all the students, SIS finally achieves the present historic breakthrough.
Traditionally, SIS has focused on teaching and contributed a lot to bringing up elitists in foreign language studies for the country with
the principle of training the types of students in demand. However, to some extent, this has also resulted in the imbalance of teaching
going first while researches second. With foreign languages being rapidly popularized and the country’s demands for highly-qualified
and versatile foreign language talents sharply increasing, SIS, as part of a leading research-oriented comprehensive University, is
faced with great challenges: how to successfully avail itself of its own advantages, how to develop its unique characteristics and
how to stand out in the fields existing in its counterparts as well, so as to win a solid ground in the competition. Undoubtedly,
challenges come abreast with opportunities. In the confrontation of both challenges and opportunities, SIS has a deep understanding
of the key factor for further development and new breakthroughs: innovation.
Since the establishment of a renewed College of Foreign Languages (the former name of SIS) in August 1999, it has made great
progress in all aspects. In 2003, the principle of developing itself through innovation was further specified. After repeated argument
and rethinking, the College launched a system reformation and innovation, replacing the “departments” with “institutes”, which
by all means ignited the sparks and creativity of the whole staff, brought them closer to each other and consequently laid a firm
foundation for the development of the subject in the college. In the same year, at the sincere invitation of the university and College of
Foreign Languages, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Steinmüller, a worldly-renowned linguist and education specialist got into office as Dean of the
college, being the first dean with foreign nationality in Chinese universities. And Dean Steinmüller brought with him brand new
conceptions for the running and teaching as well as the guidance for reformation and innovation of the College.
To update the ideas is an essential element of development through innovation. In order to illustrate among the teachers and students
the new demands towards the development of foreign language subjects in an new period, the former College of Foreign Languages
was renamed School of International Studies, with the significant additions of “foreign language and culture” and “international
communication”. But in the seemingly minor change lies the shift of ideas. Under the new name, SIS is no longer limited to the fields
of “foreign languages and literatures”, but reaches into a much broader field, “culture”, hence invigorating the foreign
language subject and strengthening its adaptability. At the same time, the emphasis on “international communication” paves the
way for SIS's further development and better performance in its function of internationalization. Today, SIS teachers and students are
supposed to ruminate over two simple but profound questions. The teachers have to ask themselves “what else I can do besides
language teaching?” And the students have to ask themselves “what else am I capable of besides speaking a foreign language?”
The innovation of ideas and conceptions helps open up the territory of foreign language studies. And based on the traditional
advantages in foreign language subject, the new cross-culture, multi-angle and multi-level research idea adds vitality to foreign
language studies for future advancement.
Innovative practice for talents is a key factor in the process of developing through innovation. The present SIS boasts an array of
excellent professors who are engaged in foreign language teaching and traditional foreign language studies and researches,
as well as specialists and scholars who undertake the researches on Discourse Criticism, the Medieval Europe and International
Communication. The large coverage of disciplines in SIS brings great potential for the growth of foreign language subject and
draws many elitists to join the college. This new and vitalized staff structure simultaneously pushes forward the new
advancement of foreign language studies, comprising a driving force in the favorable circle. Innovative practices for talents
implicate innovative approaches to cultivation of talents. SIS is attentive about the changes in the country’s policy on
recruiting students for foreign language majors, such as German, Japanese, French, and Russian. With a flexible way of recruiting
students, a new design in course modules and joint programs to collaboratively cultivate versatile and talented talents with other
schools in the university, SIS has successfully raised the qualifications of the newly recruited students, forming a solid foundation for its future talent cultivation tasks.
The final promotion of system innovation, innovation of ideas and innovative practices for talents lies on SIS’s innovation of science
and technology. Based on the principle of developing through innovation, SIS puts forward its strategic 11th five-year plans for
development. The new plans include striving for the authority to award doctoral degree of one first-level discipline or two second-level
disciplines on the basis of the new breakthrough; providing for the students new forms and contents of curriculum; hence forming
an innovative, interdisciplinary and comprehensive mode of public foreign teaching in ZJU, as well as an advanced mode of cultivating
undergraduates and graduates of foreign language majors; starting an English elitists class in ZJU, etc.
Due to its persistence in practicing innovation, SIS has won its first doctoral degree program. And by all means, this practice of reform
and innovation will certainly bring SIS into a more successful and brighter future.
