In order to fully understand the current situation of these two national level collaborative innovation centers and to know the questions students have encountered during their study, a symposium was held at the 215 conference room in Song’en Building in the morning of 8 November. The symposium was attended by Professor Tao Tao, executive dean of the Graduate School, Xue Chenglong, vice director of academic affairs office, and 25 doctoral students from two centers. Professor Tao hosted the symposium.

First, on behalf of the Graduate School, he expressed his gratitude to all students for attending the symposium. He said that the two centers are top-level platform for talent training in XMU, it is very lucky to have the opportunity to study and do research on this platform. XMU has always put great emphasis on training doctoral students. In 2014, the comprehensive reform of graduate education was initiated. Since then, several aspects, including school system, training programs, supporting funds for supervisors and scholarships, have been optimized; the condition for doctoral education has also been greatly improved. At the same time, new requirements have been raised for training links, curriculum and graduation. Then, he expressed his hope for free exchanges on current situation of doctoral training in two centers and on questions and difficulties encountered in study. He hoped that students can offer proposals about how to further improve the quality of doctoral training.

All attending students were very active in sharing their own opinions about these issues. Lin Kaiqiang from the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials said that these centers built a platform to share knowledge. Professors and experts from other two universities and one institute would hold different lectures from time to time, equipping students with advanced knowledge and solid theoretical foundations. Meanwhile, he hoped that these centers can further promote cooperation and exchanges on experimental technologies and methods, which would be beneficial to the improvement of research capacity of our doctoral students. Hua Yuhui from the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials said that as these two centers combined different disciplines and connected different fields, they could broaden the horizons of students. In his opinion, every student should intensify the awareness of self-learning, cherish the resources provided by these centers, make full use of every opportunity and lift his or her academic capacity to the highest level by exchanges and hard-working. Mu Zhengli from the Collaborative Innovation Center for Peaceful Development of Cross-Strait Relations said that he hoped these centers can utilize existing resources collaboratively, achieving innovation in scientific research and academic fields by integrating macro-coordination and micro-evaluation. Ma Mi from the Collaborative Innovation Center for Peaceful Development of Cross-Strait Relations said that as these centers were directed at research, they should provide more exchange opportunities for doctoral students. She also suggested that related colleges can use this platform to break barriers among them, sharing documents and resources among different colleges. In addition, other students suggested that XMU should enhance communications and relationships between these centers and colleges in the university and cooperation units outside. Also, they suggested that a set of special curriculums that connect different disciplines and fields could be developed for students in these centers, making the contents of teaching and research integrate with each other.

Professor Tao thanked everyone for attending the symposium. He said that talent training has always been the priority of XMU. Training of doctoral students is of particular importance to build a top-level university with top-level disciplines. Through continuous exploration, XMU will reform relevant training mechanism and management, optimize the training modes and inspire the research potentials of doctoral students. We will ensure that students can receive enough practice to become outstanding doctors with innovative thinking. He said that the Graduate School will follow these advices, carefully study relevant problems and actively communicate with all departments and colleges. In the end, we will gradually improve and regulate all works relating to the training of doctoral students in these centers.