To further consolidate thefoundation of sports‑oriented education in the school, deepen 

 the integrationof physical education and talent cultivation, summarize achievements in sportswork, sort out existing challenges, formulate follow‑up development plans, andbuild a campus cultural atmosphere featuring universal participation in sportsand sound well‑being, the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineeringsuccessfully convened a special symposium on sports work on September 21, 2026.Huang Guoqing, Party Secretary of the School, Liu Caigang, Deputy PartySecretary, and Qian Yong, Executive Deputy Director of the Experimental Centerattended the meeting. Student representatives from university sports teams andstudent organization representatives of the school were present to offersuggestions and build consensus for the high‑quality development of theschool’s sports undertakings.

Photo: Scene of thesymposium

Huang Guoqing, Party Secretary ofthe School, expressed gratitude to all student representatives for their long‑termdedication to the school’s sports initiatives. Combining the overalldevelopment plan for talent cultivation and the real‑world growth needs offaculty and students, he elaborated on the vital position and core value ofsports in fostering virtue through education and talent training. He pointedout that physical education constitutes an indispensable component of the talent‑cultivationsystem. Universal sports and mass physical exercise can not only build up thephysical fitness of faculty and students and forge resilient willpower, butalso effectively relieve academic, research and work‑related pressure,cultivate a positive mindset, and lay a sound health foundation for faculty andstudents to engage in professional studies, pursue research breakthroughs andenrich campus life. The school has always attached great importance to sports development,adheres to educating and nourishing minds through physical activity, andstrives to promote regular, popular and distinctive sports activities tosupport the all‑round development of faculty and students in morality,intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor.

The exchange and discussion sessionfeatured enthusiastic and substantial discussions. Student representativesdelivered speeches in turn based on their personal experiences and practicalwork. Most participating representatives were key members of various universitysports teams. They sincerely shared their journey with sports and real‑lifeexperiences of daily training and competition preparation, and carefullyidentified bottlenecks in individual specialized training, promotion of schoolsports programs and competition participation. Meanwhile, feasible suggestionsand innovative ideas aligned with student demands and school realities were putforward around core topics including breaking participation barriers, expandingthe reach of sports popularization, diversifying campus sports events, buildingregular exercise platforms and fostering a distinctive sports culture withinthe school.

Representatives of school studentorganizations reported the overall progress of sports activity organizationfrom the perspective of their job responsibilities. They analyzed changes inparticipant numbers, shifts in student motivation for sports, and outcomes offeatured sports events, and objectively pointed out existing problems such asinsufficient innovation in activity forms, uneven participation across thestudent body, and inadequate efforts in building a sports‑friendly atmosphere.Concrete improvement plans and implementation schemes for upgrading subsequentsports activities, coordinating competitions and cultivating sports culturewere also presented.

Qian Yong, Executive Deputy Directorof the Experimental Center, shared insights drawn from his personal growthexperience. As a former student‑athlete with long‑term sports trainingexperience, he recounted the profound impacts of physical exercise on personalgrowth, academic research and life development based on decades of sports‑engagedlife experience. He noted that fine qualities forged by sports, including hard‑workingspirit, perseverance, courage to overcome difficulties and teamwork, serve ascrucial spiritual support for tackling research obstacles, devoting oneself toacademic inquiry and sustaining long‑term efforts, and have provided powerfulmotivation for him to conduct in‑depth research, address academic challengesand enhance professional competence. Drawing on campus observations, heremarked that elderly faculty members who keep doing morning exercises all yearround as well as sports‑loving teachers and students fully demonstrate themulti‑faceted value of sports throughout one’s life journey. He encouraged allstudents of South China University of Technology to uphold the growthphilosophy of balancing cultural pursuits with physical exercise andintegrating sports with research. Students should not only delve into academicand research work with diligence and critical thinking, but also stick tophysical training to stay physically fit, so as to realize mutual empowermentand synchronous progress in academic research and physical‑mental well‑being.

Photo: Group photo of symposium participants

For a long time, the school hasplaced high priority on cultivating students’ sports literacy and encouragesstudents to take part in sports competitions at all levels to demonstrate thespirit of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and achieveremarkable results. Our school won the championship in the 2025 “SanxiongAurora” Postgraduate Basketball League. Guo Qianyi and Zhou Yang, students fromour school, represented the university in the women’s Group A final of the 27thCUBAL Guangdong Regional Tournament and helped the university basketball teamclaim the women’s Group A championship. At the 2025 University Games, HuJunheng from our school competed valiantly and contributed to the team’schampionship in the men’s and women’s Group A 4×50‑meter freestyle relay. Theseachievements fully embody the enterprising, tenacious and unyieldingsportsmanship and youthful vitality of our students. Taking this symposium as anew starting point, the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering will furtherimplement the philosophy of educating people through sports, respond to thesports‑related demands of faculty and students, optimize the sports activitysystem, enrich competition carriers, foster a vigorous campus sports culture,and continuously advance the in‑depth integration of physical education andtalent cultivation. The school will guide faculty and students to develop thehabit of lifelong physical exercise, so that they can engage in study, researchand school development with robust health and high spirits, injecting vibrantyouthful momentum into the high‑quality development of the school.

Photo / Text: Student AffairsOffice, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Preliminary Review: Peng Biyu

Secondary Review: Liu Caigang

Final Review: Huang Guoqing