Recently, Wang Wenju, Secretary of the Party Committee of Capital University of Economics and Business (CUEB), published a signed article in  People’s Daily  titled “Shoulder the Mission of the University and Dedicate to Serving the Country”, elucidating the universities’ thoughts on building a strong education nation and showcasing CUEB’s vibrant practices in promoting reform and innovation in personnel cultivation models and interdisciplinary. The content is as follows:

Building a strong educational system should prioritize higher education. Universities should deeply understand the significant strategic importance of a strong educational system, carry forward educators’ spirit, hold the grand vision of “serving the country and its people”, fulfill the mission and responsibilities of universities, and strive to write a new chapter of the construction of a strong educational system.

Promoting reform and innovation in personnel cultivation models. Here are the fundamental questions of education and the core issues of a strong educational system: who should be educated, how to educate, and for whom to educate. Universities should take fostering virtues as their fundamental task, cultivating personnel who can dedicate themselves to the construction of a strong nation and national rejuvenation. Currently, with the rapid development of the digital economy, the demand for digital talents is also increasing, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity for universities. CUEB, as a finance and economics university run by the Beijing municipality, actively serves national strategies and capital development in the new era: focusing on the demands of digital economy development, promoting the construction of professional empowerment in digital intelligence, and advancing reform and innovation in personnel cultivation models. CUEB emphasizes the deep integration between education and information technologies such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, strengthens the construction of “smart+” teaching resources, establishes a batch of bases featuring integration between industry and education as well as virtual simulation platforms, and continuously improves models for cultivating innovative personnel in the construction of New Liberal Arts.

Fostering interdisciplinary integration and innovation. Discipline construction is the foundation of university development and it is crucial to the universities’ competence to serve national strategies and regional development. Universities need to leverage the catalyst of interdisciplinary integration and concentrate on building featured disciplines that align with their educational positioning and characteristics. They should focus on cutting-edge science and key areas, strengthen dynamic discipline adjustments, and promote interdisciplinary integration, creating emerging frontier disciplines. CUEB regards the digital economy as an important direction for discipline development. With the construction of a digital economy interdisciplinary platform as the engine, the Beijing Digital Economy Development Academy has been established. CUEB focuses on research areas such as digital industry, digital finance, digital trade, and digital governance, striving to create a prominent and distinctive interdisciplinary research cluster platform.

Enhancing the application and transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Universities should regard serving the country as the highest pursuit, actively align with national strategic needs, promote organized scientific research, and deepen integrated development of industry, education, and research. Therefore, they could contribute to forming an independent knowledge system in China, strengthening think tank construction, and carrying forward-looking, strategic, and applied research as well as prioritizing the value of research results. In recent years, CUEB has produced a number of landmark scientific research achievements in areas such as carbon peaking and carbon neutrality strategy, the construction of a global benchmark city for the digital economy, smart governance in mega-cities, and the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The university has collaborated with renowned domestic enterprises to co-establish a financial technology laboratory, created Metaverse teaching and research scenarios, and launched a series of research and teaching projects such as “quantum computing plus finance”. By transforming research advantages into a powerful driving force for economic and social development, CUEB strives to provide outstanding personnel and solid technological support for Chinese modernization.