CityU’s Honors Class hosts mentor training and student presentation events to advance innovative talent development
To further summarize its teaching experiences and achievements, the Honors Class of the City University of Macau (CityU) recently held a series of events at the Taipa Campus, including a mentor training session, a symposium, and the 2025 End of Spring Semester Student Presentation. Distinguished guests in attendance included Ren Jianxun, coordinator of the Tsien Excellence in Engineering Program of Tsinghua University and the X-Institute and director of the Enhanced Student Research Training (E-SRT) Program; Rao Junmin, director of the Innovative System Engineering Research Center of the X-Institute; Cai Ziyun, sirector of the “X-Class” Collaborative Program in the Scientific Innovation Department of the X-Institute; Li Li, student management director of the X-perience Program of the X-Institute; and other experts. They gathered to exchange ideas on cultivating innovative talent and to assess students’ scientific research progress.
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At the mentor training session and symposium, Rao Junmin, director of the Innovative System Engineering Research Center of the X-Institute, delivered a speech on “A Multi-Dimensional Innovative Talent Evaluation Model and Practices across Secondary Education and Higher Education”, in which he systematically introduced a five-dimensional evaluation model and an integrated evaluation system spanning secondary education, higher education, and industry. This model breaks away from the traditional one-dimensional academic evaluation framework by comprehensively assessing students’ potential across multiple dimensions, including innovative thinking, practical skills, and interdisciplinary literacy, thereby providing Honors Class mentors with a more scientific and systematic approach to talent development.
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Ren Jianxun, coordinator of the Tsien Excellence in Engineering Program of Tsinghua University and the X-Institute, introduced the E-SRT Program in detail, focusing on the core concept of “research-based learning”. Professor Ren emphasized the importance of stimulating students’ interest in scientific research and their spirit of inquiry, and shared practical experiences on effectively guiding students through scientific training, providing valuable references for future instructional design.
At the symposium that followed, participants had lively discussions on optimizing the curriculum system, stimulating students’ passion for scientific research, strategies for mentoring students in competitions, and the selection process for the next Honors Class. Vice Rector Han Wei noted that CityU has attracted a large number of outstanding young scholars and faculty members in recent years, creating fertile ground for the cultivation of innovative talent. She highlighted CityU’s focus on student development and would continue to allocate resources to support the growth of the Honors Class and nurture excellent individuals.
Sun Pei, executive deputy director of the Honors Class and executive associate dean of the Faculty of Health and Wellness, reviewed the achievements of the Honors Class over the past year. He highlighted the students’ remarkable performance in academic publishing, scientific competitions, applet development, and large language model applications, which showcased their excellent innovative capabilities. Looking ahead, he stressed the further implementation of the scientific research training plan and the goal of establishing a distinctive talent development model for the Honors Class.
Other attendees at the mentor training session and symposium included Professor Han Haoying from the Faculty of Innovation and Design, Associate Professors Ying Zuobin and Duan Junwei and Assistant Professor Jing Fengshi from the Faculty of Data Science, and Lecturer Xu Mo from the Faculty of Business.
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At the 2025 End of Spring Semester Student Presentation, Li Li, director of the X-perience Program of the X-Institute, introduced the core philosophy of the institute’s periodic training plan and the development of school-enterprise collaborative projects. She explained that by leveraging Shenzhen’s industrial strengths, the X-Institute has established in-depth partnerships with prominent enterprises such as BYD, Huawei, and Shokz, forming an integrated industry-academia-research ecosystem for innovative talent development. This network has now been extended to CityU’s Honors Class, providing students with hands-on opportunities such as corporate visits and collaborative research projects to broaden their industry perspectives and help them explore individual scientific research interests.
The Honors Class students then presented their academic and scientific research progress for the semester, their learning plans for the next academic year, their future scientific research plans, and the challenges they are currently facing. In his concluding remarks, Professor Ren Jianxun noted a significant improvement in the students’ scientific research capabilities this semester, particularly in problem analysis, methodological design, and outcome presentation, which demonstrates profound academic literacy. He encouraged the students to maintain a focused effort on their chosen research directions for at least three months to gain deeper insights and prepare for higher-level challenges. Drawing on his own experience, Dr. Rao Junmin shared key techniques for reading academic literature and conducting literature reviews, underscoring the importance of “small breakthroughs”. He advised the students to build confidence through incremental successes in their training and to tackle complex research problems one step at a time.
Professor Sun Pei concluded that the achievements of the Honors Class this academic year were largely due to the seamless integration of the “X-idea” (Challenging Problems) curriculum in the first semester and the SRT (Undergraduate Research Training) advanced research modules in the second semester. He introduced that the structured training system has significantly enhanced the students’ foundational research skills. Looking ahead to the coming academic year, he expressed confidence that, with continued refinement of the program and support from mentors, students would produce increasingly influential research outputs.
As a model program of CityU’s innovative education strategy, the Honors Class will continue to strengthen its mentor training mechanism and promote deeper integration of scientific research and teaching. The program is committed to nurturing exceptional talent with innovative spirit and practical skills for Macao and the Greater Bay Area. Recruitment for the next Honors Class is expected to begin in September, and all undergraduate CityU students are welcome to apply. Interested students should stay tuned for announcements on CityU’s platforms.
