Shenzhen Polytechnic School of Applied Foreign Languages
The School of Applied Foreign Languages was established in 1994. It has 3 departments. They are the English Department, Oriental Language Department and the College Foreign Languages Department. The School offers majors in the following categories: Business English, Business Japanese, Business Foreign languages, Foreign Affairs English and Foreign Affairs Japanese. There are 17 specialties / orientation, including International Business, International Trade, Business Communication, Business Management and Business Secretarial Administration, and there are seven foreign languages offered such as English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Russian. The school has a highly-qualified teaching staff totaling 130 members. There are 16 professors and associate professors, 40 returned overseas talents, 30 foreign experts from Europe, America, Japan and South Korea, and over 80% of the teachers have a Master’s degree. The school offers the most comprehensive foreign languages and foreign language programs among higher vocational colleges or universities in China.
In line with the needs of social development of Shenzhen, the school mode focuses on the introduction of new information and teaching materials and international standards of evaluation as well as emphasizing the constant improvement of facilities in order to upgrade educational quality. The School has made prominent achievements with concerted efforts by actively carrying out teaching and research. For example, “Management English”(textbook planned by the Education Ministry) was recommended as the National Top Subject in 2004; The national research project “Research on Higher Vocational English Education Theory and Method” was awarded first prize by Ministry of Education in 2004; “Hope English” was awarded the second prize of “The Best Seller of the Sixth National College Publishing House” in 2004; “3S Centred Teaching Mode of Higher Vocational English” was awarded the second prize of National Top Teaching Achievements in 2001. Chen Yanbin, a business English student of 2002, won the first prize at the Shenzhen English Writing Competition in 2004. More than 90 academic papers have been published. More than 40 vocational English textbooks edited by the staff make up half of the national market.
The school has been active in international cooperation, signing Joint Education Agreements with more than ten universities and education organizations including the U.K., Australia, Spain, France, Russia, Japan and South Korea. Our teacher and student exchange programs are very successful. To date, about one hundred students have been sent abroad for further education and about thirty teachers have been sent abroad as visiting scholars. The school has established a higher vocational education mode with Chinese characteristics and international standards. The graduates have been very popular with different organizations and enterprises. The School of Applied Foreign Languages currently has 1122 students and has more than 800 graduates with an employment rate of 100%. The School has become a well-known foreign education institution in China.
To build a foreign culture atmosphere and to create an authentic language and business environment, the Applied Foreign Languages School has set up 18 first-class digital language labs, two business practice rooms and 17 off-campus practice bases. The Foreign Languages Culture Festival of Shenzhen Polytechnic has been held on the campus as well as in Shenzhen communities every year. A series of colorful activities such as Foreign Speech, Foreign Culture Exhibition, and the Foreign Culture Party help students expand their horizon and knowledge of different cultures, and promote their language application ability. The School of Applied Foreign Languages of Shenzhen Polytechnic has become an indispensable force in the course of the internationalization of Shenzhen and will make further and greater contributions to the development of China’s higher vocational education in foreign languages.
In the past three years, teachers of the department published around 70 research papers in leading academic periodicals, these covered a wide range of both applied and theoretical fields concerning linguistic studies, language teaching, business English and English culture. Some of their publications are frequently quoted by their peers. Based upon the experience gained from long-term practice in higher vocational education and innovative studies on the science of language and applied linguistics, the staff of the department compiled two sets of textbooks for higher vocational students, which is a pioneer accomplishment of our country. New Century English, published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, consists of 16 volumes for Integrated English and Listening-Speaking. The second set of books, ESP series, published by Higher Education Press for senior students, is composed of English for Computer Science, English for Management, English for Engineering Technology, etc. The two sets of books constitute a comprehensive program of English education for vocational colleges, and are being widely adopted all over the country.
Foreign teachers of the department are qualified professionals from educationally developed countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand, they are well educated and experienced in teaching Chinese students. They offer such major courses as "Listening & Speaking", "BEC", "Communicative Language", "Accounting", and are respected by their Chinese colleagues and welcomed by their students.
With a view to creating and maintaining a favorable English-learning atmosphere, the department, assisted by the relevant organizations on the campus, designed and carried out a series of colorful extracurricula English activities for the students. These activities include English TV programs, Lecture Series, Professor Forum, English Speech Contest and English Corner, which contribute a great deal to the students' progress in English.
In the meantime, a modern "Multimedia English Self-Study Center" is to be built and a "Virtual Extracurricular Center" is already under way for the students.
With the heritage of "perfection hunting and hard working", the students of the department focus on their cultivation of comprehensive qualities, that is, on the synthesis of moral, intellectual and physical development; meanwhile, they pay special attention to forming their creative attitudes. Because of this, they have gained numerous honors on various school occasions, such as Sports Meet, Writing Contest, Oral Debate. Excellent students of the department are entitled to a Tokyo- Mitsubishi Bank Scholarship and some awards granted by college authorities. Up to now, 521 students have successfully completed their studies, among them, 40 are studying at the University of Wolverhampton (U.K.) for their bachelor's or master's degrees, and all the others are employed by various organizations in Shenzhen.
The purpose of setting up training bases off campus is to offer participants opportunities to get familiar with professional settings and become involved in practical operations. This forms an integrated part of the curriculum of the programs of the department, and represents distinct highlights of vocational education. The following bases in various business organizations are worthy of mention, since they offer great help to the participants by preparing them well for the start of their career:
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (Shenzhen) Panasonic SH Industrial Sales (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. P&O Nedlloyd (China) Ltd. Shenzhen SDG Overseas Trade Co., Ltd. China International Travel Agency (Shenzhen) Shenzhen Xili Lake Holiday Resort.
The Applied Foreign Languages Department attempts to cooperate with society actively and has set up the Supervisory Committee for the programs by recruiting about 100 officials and outstanding representatives from related industrial associations, large state-owned and foreign companies, 3 sessions of Supervisory Committees have already been held. Every year the committees hold their annual conventions to predict and analyze the social requirements of each specialty, to advise and guide the teaching program and practices, to develop the social practice bases for the students, to help train graduates before employment and recommend graduates for employment. As a bridge between the campus and society, the supervisory committees transfer information and present valuable advice in time, thus playing a very important role in the construction and development of each specialty.
The department has been making great efforts to establish close relations with universities in developed countries and regions to learn their advanced educational concepts and new English language information in order to meet the needs of future education.
In January 1997, we signed a Joint Education Agreement with the University of Wolverhampton. The University of Wolverhampton lies in the very heart of England, near Birmingham, Britain's second largest city. It is the sixth largest university in Britain, with 5 campuses, 11 schools, 88 majors and over 20,000 students.
During the last 4 years, our cooperation has covered many aspects such as graduate overseas study, mutual visits and exchange of the teachers, joint teaching programs and sharing of teaching materials. We are also planning to develop a distance- learning program and a joint education model, namely, the students finishing undergraduate study in Shenzhen are supposed to obtain a bachelor degree awarded by overseas universities. So far we have had 12 mutual visiting teachers, and over 40 graduates of our department have been accepted to continue their fourth year's study to obtain their bachelor degree at the University of Wolverhampton. The outstanding students can get their master degree after another one year study.
