On the afternoon of March 9, 2015, invited by Prof. Vincent Price, Provost of University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), CUPL President Huang Jin attended the launching ceremony of Penn Wharton China Center (PWCC) and the related Round Table Forum, which was held by UPenn in Beijing. Vice Provost of UPenn, Dean of the Wharton School and seven other UPenn Deans, as well as leaders of some notable Chinese universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University etc., were also present at that ceremony.
At the ceremony, Vincent Price briefly introduced the education cooperation and communication status between UPenn and China, and elaborated on the impact and significance of PWCC’s establishment and UPenn’s strategy in China. After that, the Round Table talks turned its attention to the Function of Education in Inspiring Innovation. The attendees centered their hot and in-depth discussions on matters like how to boost innovations and how to teach innovative notions in higher education; what is the appropriate role multidisciplinary studies and teaching could play in creating something new and unique; what is the suitable role humanities & social sciences could play in advancing innovations; how to facilitate mass innovation through higher education; and what kind of Sino-American collaboration would provide strong backing for the innovations in the area of higher education.
In the discussion section, Vincent Price invited President Huang Jin to speak as the first guest. President Huang Jin not only briefly recalled his two pleasant visits to UPenn, but also shared his personal views on the following matters with the dignitaries on the spot: the meaning of innovation; the differences among innovation, creation and to start up a new business; how to blaze new trails in internationalized school-running. He pointed out that school-running in Global context doesn’t mean we should blindly and mechanically copy the ideas and methods of the developed western countries, but means that we should know both ourselves and our western peers. Based on that knowledge, we could effectively enhance our students’ sense of internationalism and greatly improve their communication abilities.
Before the activity, Zhang Zhong, Executive Faculty Director of PWCC, specially accompanied President Huang Jin visited the facilities of that Center.
