Permanent Campus put into use in September 2019

Li Yumao, a freshman majored in Material Science in Shenzhen MSU-BIT University (hereinafter referred to as SMBU), being different from students in other universities in China, starts his university life in August to begin Russian language learning for four weeks. For 113 freshmen with no Russian foundation, the first year study centers on Russian ---small class with 40 hours per week, fruitful and efficient.

What is it like to study in the first China-Russian cooperative university? In recent days, our reporter went to visit SMBU to know about students’ study and life. SMBU continues to adopt “631” admission mode this year, students could log on school’s admission website to register before May 25.

● Great progress in Russian in less than one year

Six days, over 40 study hours per week, I feel like I went through “a fake grade twelve” in my first year study, Li Yumao said jokingly. As the only university taught in Russian, for the 113 freshmen with no Russian foundation, Russian learning is vitally important, basic Russian and professional Russian courses exemplifying that in their first year study.  

“It is important to make a communication environment in learning a language; we have small class with fewer than 15 students, so we have plenty of opportunities to talk with our teachers and classmates.” Li Sui, an Applied Mathematics student, said. For the time being, students are building vocabularies, though it is tiring, language learning emphasizes solid foundation building.

To reporter’s knowledge, Russian language teachers are all from Moscow University; Suvorkina, who started her career in 1981 in MSU and are rich in Russian teaching experience, is one of them. “What impresses me most is that students have high passion in learning.” She said, due to the fact that students have solid foundation in English, when they just learnt Russian for two weeks they could communicate in simple Russian.

● Taught in Russian, English learning continues

Russian is a teaching language and a vehicle of communication, Yang Gang, the first vice head of the Academic Department, said. School now has four majors in Bachelor degree, all of which are a combination of major characteristics and of respective advantages of MSU and BIT. Majors include: Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Material Science and Engineering, International Economy and Trade, and Russian. What needs to point out is, Russian major in MSU plays the leading role in Russian language and literature, and all Russian language standards are from MSU. Hence, students in SMBU could experience the original Russian language learning. Even taught in Russian, students will not stop learning English in SMBU; English teachers from BIT holds that duty, and in the just-ended Band Four of College English Test, a large proportion of students participated.  

● Nurturing talents for “One Belt, One Road”

Rector of SMBU, Zhao Ping, said he had a question in mind when SMBU just established, what are the differences between students graduating from SMBU and students graduating from MSU? “The teaching plans and textbooks are from MSU, and most of the teachers are from MSU, so there are a lot in common, but in SMBU, we stick to running the school with Chinese socialist characteristics, cultivating socialist builders and successors that serve for the “One Belt, One Road” construction rooted in China. Zhao said, for that reason, SMBU sets up ideological and political theory courses according to the requirement from Ministry of Education, and the course is lectured by Beijing famous teacher, head of the College of Marxism in BIT, Miss Li Linying; also, the school had Party and League activities, military training and patriotic education so as to enhance students’ patriotism. “There is a huge demand for talents for the ‘One Belt One Road’ Initiative. Our students not only have the advantage of language, but also they have solid foundation in their major and a good understanding of Chinese and Russian culture and customs, as well as of ‘One Belt One Road’ countries.” Therefore, Zhao Ping believes that students of SMBU have bright prospect and wide range of job opportunities.

●Permanent Campus put into use in September 2019

Party Secretary of SMBU, Mr. Lu Wanwei said, school will continue to adopt “631” admission mode this year, that is, 60% college entrance exam results, 30% SMBU exam result and 10% high school academic record. SMBU exam consists of subject test and Russian language aptitude test, among which, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Material Science and Engineering, and International Economy and Trade, the subject test is “Mathematics”, while for Russian Language and Literature, subject test is “Literature”.

Students who have interest in becoming a student in SMBU could log on the admission website (http://zsb.szmsubit.edu.cn) to register before May 25. The permanent campus covers an area of 500 mu(a unit of area, approximately 82.4 acres), now it has been in decoration of the final stage. Students who are enrolled this year will study in the transitional campus for one year, and after that, they will move to the permanent campus characterized by both Russian style and Chinese garden feature.

(Source: Shenzhen Special Zone Daily)