On September 12, the School of Journalism and Communication at South China University of Technology held a welcome meeting for its 2024 cohort of doctoral students. The event, hosted by Vice Dean Zhang Qingyuan, brought together the School’s leadership team, doctoral supervisors, and the new doctoral students.
Dean Chen Gang extended his warm congratulations and sincere welcome to the incoming cohort on behalf of the School. He offered a comprehensive overview of the School’s research platform development and future plans. In recent years, the School has made significant strides in building out its research infrastructure, establishing six provincial-level and six university-level research platforms. These platforms play a critical role in supporting the School’s growth and in cultivating top-level talent. Capitalizing on the academic strengths of South China University of Technology and the distinctive development concept of “integrating liberal arts and science,” the School has intensified its collaboration with engineering and science faculties. In step with cutting-edge trends in academia and industry, the School has identified five strategic directions for future development—Convergence Journalism, Computational Communication, Computational Advertising, Health Communication, and International Communication—aimed at forging new avenues and paradigms for research, grounded in the School’s disciplinary strengths.
During the meeting, the new doctoral students introduced themselves, highlighting their academic backgrounds, research interests, and future aspirations, which facilitated mutual understanding and lively interaction among both professors and students. Liu Tao, the School’s Deputy Party Committee Secretary, along with doctoral supervisors Chen Juan, Li Xiaohua, Zhao Hong, Duan Chunlin, Fu Jia, Hu Bing, Zhang Buzhong, Han Hongxing, Zheng Yudan, and Shan Yunming, shared words of encouragement and advice with the incoming class.
During a subsequent exchange session, participants discussed a variety of topics, including academic exchange support policies and the learning environment. The faculty noted that the School continues to refine its policies, actively encourages students to participate in high-level academic conferences to broaden their horizons, and supports both individual and collective development. In parallel, the School is working to optimize space usage in order to enhance the learning and research environment, better facilitating doctoral students’ scholarship, study, and academic exchange activities.
In his concluding remarks, Tan Zhiwei, Secretary of the School’s Party Committee, underscored that doctoral studies not only involve strengthening academic skills but also play a key role in character building. He advised students to integrate themselves into groups and teams, uphold a spirit of “finding joy in helping others,” and aim to make meaningful contributions to society. He further encouraged them to set goals and persevere, working diligently toward “striving for the highest excellence” and experiencing the fulfillment that comes from “pursuing truth.”
Since its official approval to confer doctoral degrees in Journalism and Communication as a first-level discipline in 2022, the School has now completed its second round of doctoral admissions. In the future, the School plans to uphold the fundamental task of nurturing virtue and cultivating talent, while further refining its doctoral training system. Embracing the responsibilities and missions of the era, the School aspires to continuously produce high-level talent with diverse knowledge structures and innovative abilities, supporting the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and contributing to national progress through education and technology.
