The Technical Innovation Base of the School of Life Science and Technology

As one of the 15 College Students’ Technical Innovation Bases established by the University according to their respective academic field, the College Students’ Technical Innovation Base of the School of Life Science and Technology (hereinafter referred to as the Base) is organized and administered by the School of Life Science and Technology, which since 2007 had made specific appropriation of land and administrative appointments to ensure a high-level standardized operation of the Base.

Relying on the school’s solid faculty, the Base utilizes all sorts of resources from various research bases and experimental teaching centers of the school to develop scientific innovative activities of college students. The guideline for the Base is cultivating students’ practical and innovative abilities as well as inspiring them towards the road of success and innovative undertaking, with students as its basis, tutor and research subjects its orientation, and tutor and research institutes of respective subjects its support.

The goal of development for the Base is to build a base which cultivates talents, promotes scientific research and produces qualified contestants for all kinds of scientific and technological competitions through the joint efforts, so that the students groomed by the Base would become elites both in school and future employment, and students trained by the Base the “top picks” among graduates.

Inside the Base is run by the Student Administrative Committee, which is guided by one counselor, the president and the vice-president of which are chosen among students, and under which 5 departments were set up, namely the Secretary Department, the Academic Department, the Comprehensive Department, the Activities Planning Department and the Personnel Department, in order to organize and manage the operation of the Base and the distribution of resources.

The training group, project group and competition group of the Base are run by the Academic Department. The project group covers a wide range of projects, featuring life science as the basis, the related interdisciplines as the subject and the coexistence of varied forms of technological innovations. The sources of research subjects of the project group are assorted, including sub-projects of the major research subjects of the lab, cooperative projects with the post-graduate research subjects, and the initiative interest groups of students. From time to time the Base collected from students their designs for projects, which in turn were analyzed for their feasibility by the Base, and provided financial support to the superb ideas and invited specialists to guide them.

The Base takes gradual and steady steps in training the students, concentrating on the cultivation of fundamental knowledge, basic experimental ability and innovative thinking as well as moral fibers so that every trainee would appreciate the value of respecting both the teachers and fellow students and develop a team spirit.

Nourished by the concern of university leaders and support from the leaders and the faculty of the school as well as the joint efforts from every member of the Base, the Base has accomplished quite a lot by winning medals in all sorts of school, provincial and even national competitions. The Base will carry on to make greater contribution to the development of the university and the innovative undertakings of undergraduates in the future, guided by the spirit of “the trinity of education, innovation and responsibility” advocated by President LI Peigen.

The Management of Recruitment of the Base

For the purpose of providing new blood to the Base and facilitating the cycle of the young succeeding the old so that the Base would set off towards a more prosperous direction, it is essential that outstanding talents be selected to join the Base according to the general principles of management of the Base.

The Base’s requirements for its members include abilities in analysis, communication, cooperation and management, all of which will be covered in the recruitment assessment. The recruitment takes place twice each year, the first in the 2nd month after the beginning of the academic year while the second at the beginning of the 2nd semester. The basic training will be completed in the process of the first recruitment.

1. Procedures for the Official Recruitment

The First Round: Accepting Resumes

(1) Before the recruitment the Base will hold an Opening Day activity, during which the current situation of the Base will be introduced to the new students and application forms made available to download from the websites of the Base or the school while hardcopies of application forms distributed to the freshmen. The application forms will be collected back within 3 days after the Opening Day.

(2) The application forms fall into 2 categories: one for the management and the other for the scientific research. The contents of the former include personal information (name, gender, date of birth, class, current job in student management, contact, personal strengths, etc.), the department applied to and personal working experience. Whereas the latter requires the applicants to put in the purpose of joining the Base besides personal information, and maybe his/her own original ideas in the field of biology. In addition, the personal strengths must be closely connected to the scientific research or the management of the Base. Those who fill in the column of personal strengths also need to submit one of his/her related works to the public mailbox or the office of the Base within two weeks after the distribution of application forms.

(3) The Personnel Department will carry out a preliminary selection of the applicants, taking counsel with the respective superintendents concerning the information obtained from the column of “current job in student management” in the forms. For example, if the applicant is a member of the Students’ Union, the superintendent responsible for offering opinions will be the counselor of the department or the school; if the applicant is the class president, then the superintendent responsible will be the organization department of the Students’ Union; the class presidents will be responsible for the rest of the students. Note: the opinions offered must be brief and to the point, but not too general and ambiguous.

The list of applicants making to the next round of test will be decided within 3 working days after the collection of application forms.

The Second Round: Test

(1) The Base has chosen from the first round of applicants the qualified ones to enter this round of test.

(2) The Base aims to take in innovative, capable and independent-thinking talents. However, considering freshmen’s lack of expertise in biology, the test will focus on examining the testees for their abilities of innovative thinking, breaking through the mind set and solving problems through unorthodox approaches, rather than expertise. The test is not necessarily carried out in the traditional forms of written examinations and interviews. It is up to the test setters assigned by the Personnel Department to decide the specific form depending on the situation.

(3) The test could cover a wide range of examinations on various abilities, with the test on team spirit and cooperative ability as the one indispensable component.

(4) The admission list will be decided within 1 working day after the test and put on the school bulletin.

The Third Round: Training Camp

(1) The students selected after the two rounds of screening will be admitted into the “Freshmen Training Camp” of the Base.

(2) The “Freshmen Training Camp” of the Base is under the charge of the Academic Department (focusing on the part of scientific research) and the Personnel Department (focusing on the part of management), which will respectively make course arrangements according to different categories. Public courses include Basic Scientific Accomplishment, Instructions at the Lab, Team Cooperation (Public Relations), Time Control (namely Working Efficiency). The research course is Literature Reference whereas the management course is the Management of Public Affairs.

(3) During tuition, we could confer certificates and titles of “Honorary Tutor of the Innovation Base of the School of Life Science and Technology” to the teachers and tutors who have made great contributions to the training of the Base, and further publish the news in media like the blackboard newspaper of the Base and Innovative Academic Journal.

(4) The Training Camp lasts for two weeks, during which time the Academic Department and the Personnel Department would assign someone to supervise and record the class performances of everyone, which will take up 40% of the final grade.

(5) The course graduation test will be held on the last working day of the Training Camp. Though the test is not fixed in the form, it has to include effective tests of more than 2 public courses plus the course which belongs to the category they applied for. Every trainee will receive the graduation comment from the superintendent of the Training Camp on the day of graduation.

(6) The final admission list will be decided within 1 or 2 working days after the completion of the Training Camp and put on the school bulletin.

2. Daily Recruitment

Apart from the official recruitment procedures, the Base also carries out a follow-up recruitment as required by the situation. The recruitment is open to all undergraduates in the university, but only limited to the category of scientific research.

The specifics of the follow-up recruitment are as follows:

The Base requires the applicants to be morally sound, positive in attitude, academically excellent and quite self-reliant, who possess a passion for the practice as well as the life science. In addition, the applicants must meet at least one of the following requirements:

(1) The applicant has participated in the College Students’ Technological Innovation Training Camp of the university and obtained the graduation certificate for the training;

(2) The applicant has independently proposed a innovative scientific research project, which is equipped with a complete plan of feasibility;

(3) The applicant has received a medal in the science competition of the university or that of a higher level;

(4) The applicant ranks in the top 5 among students studying the same major in the weighted score;

(5) The applicant possesses some particular professional skill, for instance, the skilled operation of software like 3DsMAX or Open Inventor;

(6) The applicant had won the provincial first prize or beyond in the China High School Biology Olympiad, and were recommended and admitted into our university without examination.

The accomplishments in the above requirements need to be proved by credible certificates. In addition, the 3rd requirement needs to be further supplemented by a full electronic copy and the 4th by a certification issued by the Office of Academic Regulations and Records. Students who are able to meet the 5th requirement need to finish a piece of work within the time set according to the theme assigned to them by the recruiters of the Base and submit it for examination.

The Base will put application forms on the websites of the Base or the school for download while distributing inside the Base hardcopies of application forms to those who are willing to join the Base. The application forms differ slightly from that of the 1st recruitment in the form that the applicant needs to write a full comment of himself/herself from the perspective of a third person plus an elucidation of what directions of Biology he/she takes interests in and why.

The application forms submitted, the Personnel Department will subsequently carry out the screening of the applicants, among whom the selected will receive the notice within 2 days after the list is determined and thus begin their preparations for the interview. The subjects and time of the interview will be determined within a week after the notice and the interview will subsequently take place.

The final result of admission will be put on the school bulletin 2 days after the interview.

Please contact LIU Ying (the counselor of the Base) at 65027622 or 13638693402, or Yingliuh@gamil.com via e-mail.

You’re welcome to offer any opinion concerning the development of the Base, for which we’ll be immensely grateful. Please contact us at lifechuangxin@gmail.com (the public e-mail of the Base).