n January 9, Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) held the 2019 International Young Scholars Forum at the International Education Center, Songjiang Campus. The three-day event, which was co-organized by AcaBridge.edu.cn, EOL, China’s largest online education portal, was aimed at enriching the university’s talent pool. More than 70 emerging scholars from universities of over 20 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and Russia, attended.

The Forum provided a platform for young scholars to draw from their outstanding academic background and exchange ideas on frontier and hot academic issues, while giving them an opportunity to know more about SISU. It was the hope of the university that in the near future these young talents would choose SISU to be the place where they achieve their aspirations.

Jiang Feng, university council chair, delivered a welcome speech at the opening ceremony. He talked about SISU’s “multi-lingual+” strategy, its dedication to the cultivation of specialized talents who not only have outstanding language proficiency but also expert knowledge in global studies and other specialized fields, and its aspiration to become a world-class foreign language institute of higher learnings that excels in global studies.

Li Yongzhi, deputy director of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, spoke highly of SISU’s achievements in political consultation, business support, public enlightenment and talent cultivation and acknowledged the importance of the Forum to the acceleration of the building of Shanghai into an influential global city and an international center of economy, finance, trade, shipping and innovation in science and technology.

Chen Zhiwen, editor-in-chief of EOL and deputy chairman and general secretary of Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy, stated that the “Double First-Class University Plan” accelerated the reform of higher education in China and boosted the development of subjects and disciplines, which had provided a golden opportunity for universities with distinctive strengths, including SISU, to sustain a significant growth in the next two or three decades, recommending SISU as an excellent choice for overseas scholars who were looking for opportunities in China. Chen also expressed his wishes that both SISU and the attending scholars could make the most out of the Forum.

Li Yansong, university president, said that the future of SISU would be determined by the quality of its faculty and emphasized that the university had always paid special attention to faulty construction, from recruitment to development support. The Forum was yet another effort by the university to improve its recruitment process and consolidate its position as a “Double First-Class” university.

The three-day Forum received applications from over 400 young scholars. Sub-forums and panel discussions were held in the afternoon of January 9, covering a wide range of disciplines including foreign languages and literatures, politics, business administration, journalism and communication and applied economics. The attending scholars exchanged views with representatives from respective schools at SISU.

At the Forum, Qiao Guoqiang, Pan Yu and Liu Zhongmin, on behalf of the established professors at SISU, shared their own stories about academic pursuit and career development and encouraged the young scholars to align their personal goals with those of the university, society and the country. Their remarks sparked vigorous discussions among the participants.

Zhang, a doctoral candidate in linguistics of Harvard University and a bachelor graduate of Tsinghua University, commented that the Forum offered useful information about discipline development and the academic environment of SISU as well as Shanghai, noting that the university’s work environment and academic potentials were a huge draw to young scholars. Wang, researcher and associate professor of Global Security Cooperation Center, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and postdoctoral researcher of School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, said that, “SISU, as an international platform, can fulfill my needs and China is likely to witness more academic growth in the near future.”

In recent years, in line with the talent attraction initiatives on both the central and the municipal levels, SISU has spared no efforts to improve its recruitment system, support its high-level talents and strengthen its talent pool in areas crucial to the strategic development of the university. The university has also developed a flexible and efficient promotion system that allows talents to be duly rewarded for playing to their strengths. 2019 marked the 70^th anniversary of SISU. With this year’s Forum, the university hoped not only to experiment with new forms of talent recruitment but also obtain the fuel it needed to launch itself to the next stage.

Representatives from Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai Ocean University, East China University of Political Science and Law, and Shanghai University of Political Science and Law also attended the Forum.