Seminar on University Issues and Policy

Seminar on Education Quality and Faculty Development For University Leaders from China

TEACHERS COLLEGE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

October 18 - November 12, 2004

The seminar on education quality and faculty development is jointly organized by the Center on Chinese Education, Teachers College Columbia University and the National Academy of Education Administration, China. Attended by 25 leaders (presidents and vice presidents) of national research universities in China, the seminar provides a state-of-the-art examination of the ideas and practices in promoting education quality and faculty development in national research universities in the United States.

The seminar covers two main topics:

1. Improving education quality in higher education- education models for developing creative talents; education transition between high-school education and higher education; education theories and practices for providing general knowledge in college; raising and maintaining quality in undergraduate and graduate education; the comparison of alternative teaching models and their reform; organization and implementation of education assessment.
2. Developing a competent teaching force in higher education- Faculty qualifications, hiring, and promotion; incentive mechanism; the environment for developing advanced skilled personnel; ethics in the teaching profession; faculty lifelong learning; the teaching and research conditions of the faculty and the safeguard of related rights and benefits; and optimizing the structure of the teaching profession.

The four-week seminar is organized into two parts:

1. Two weeks of workshops: Lectures, presentations, and discussion on the two main topics will be given at Teachers College Columbia University
2. Two weeks of study tour: Field studies of four research universities in the United States (both private and public universities) plus a visit of higher-education professional organizations in Washington, DC.