The School of Foreign Studies (SFS) hosted a signing ceremony for the establishment of MTI practice bases and the appointment of postgraduate off-campus supervisors at Tower B, Science and Teaching Building, Feicuihu Campus on the afternoon of January 8, 2021. Professor Ding Yunsheng, deputy dean of Graduate School, Professor Huang Fei, director of Professional Degree Education Office and Li Chao, as well as all leaders of the SFS were present at the ceremony, who discussed MTI student training and curriculum with the leaders from practice bases and nine appointed off-campus postgraduate supervisors from Anhui Translators Association (ATA), Anhui Provincial Foreign Affairs Office and Anhui Radio and TV station International Channel.
At the ceremony, Professor Zhang Sihong, dean of the SFS, warmly welcomed the coming of the off-campus postgraduate supervisors and expressed his gratitude for their interest and support to the professional development and discipline construction of the School of Foreign Studies. He said, in the future the SFS will regularly invite them to join in the teaching and guide MTI students in their practice, so as to promote the cultivation mechanism in an integrated on-and-off campus manner for training the students into high-caliber, applied and professional interpreters and translators.
Professor Huang Chuan, deputy dean of the SFS, introduced the history and overall operation of the school from the aspects of the development of undergraduate specialties and discipline, structure and faculty.
Xu Ming, president of ATA, spoke on behalf of the off-campus supervisors. In his speech, he affirmed the teaching management and the achievements of the SFS in MTI student education and put forward that the construction of MTI should be kept innovatively to the original mission with equal attention to interpreting and translation. The students trained should play the role of a bridge between different languages, have the ability to tell the stories of Anhui, and better serve the work relating to foreign affairs and international communication of the province.
Ding Yunsheng highly valued the signing, saying he hopes that the on-campus and off-campus forces will carry out deeper cooperation and jointly cultivate and find more talented language professionals. He pointed out that academic expression abilities in both Chinese and English of science and engineering students are important and need to be improved. In this respect, the SFS should double its efforts and make more contributions to the university in producing high-quality graduates who will always be loyal to the country and keep a global vision.
The ceremony was presided over by Professor Tang Jun, deputy dean of the SFS. Zhang Sihong signed the cooperation agreement with the leaders of the designated practice bases, and Dr. Liu Xiaofeng, Party Secretary of the SFS, passed the letters of appointment to the off-campus supervisors.
It is believed that the signing has set up a platform for the SFS to further standardize its practical bases for foreign language majors, upgrade its MTI degree programs and promote its dual-supervisor team.
