SISU & Shanghai Publicity Department Cooperate in the Construction of the School of Journalism and Communication

The Publicity Department of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee signed an agreement with Shanghai International Studies University to cooperate in the construction of the School of Journalism and Communication on Feb. 27, 2019. The signing ceremony was attended by Mr. Zhu Yonglei, Deputy Secretary-General of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Mr. Xu Wei, Director of the International Communication office of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Director of Shanghai Municipal Press and Publication Bureau, Mrs. Yang Jun, Deputy Director of the Office of the Cyberspace Affairs Commission of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, and Mr. Li Yansong, President and Deputy Council Chair of SISU. Mr. Sun Weixing, director of the Head Office for the collaboration in the development of the School under the Publicity Department, hosted the ceremony.

Mr. Zhu Yonglei, Deputy Secretary-General of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, said that both parties should make full of their respective advantages to jointly strengthen the School of Journalism and Communication’s capability in international communication. The Department of Publicity has advantages in government and Party related affairs, while SISU has its advantages in professional development, research accumulation and academic studies. What’s more, the interaction system of the two parties should be complemented so that they could send assistants to each other for practical and efficient aims. Moreover, the School of Journalism and Communication and the news media in Shanghai should hire professionals from each other so that more high level professionals could be introduced into the school and the programs for training and developing journalists could be initiated. A new pattern should be formed over the interconnectivity, deep integration and coordinated development of the two parties.

Mr. Zhu put forward three suggestions for the cooperation between the Department of Publicity and SISU: first we should implement the education of Marxist views upon journalism and prioritize the learning, implementation, studying and understanding of Secretary-General Xi Jinping’s discourse over the CPC’s work on news media so that students can learn about it by heart in the classes and practices under the integrated guidance. Second, practical abilities should be strengthened so that the professional capabilities of both parties can be enhanced. Third, both parties should work centripetally in perfecting the mechanisms and systems during the co-construction.

Mr. Li Yansong, President and Deputy Council Chair of SISU, expressed his gratitude for the great support from the Publicity Department of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee. He pointed out that the agreement over the co-construction was a great step in implementing the “Double First-Class Initiative” in SISU as well as a pleasant event in SISU’s 70 years of discipline development. SISU would make effort in the following 4 aspects to achieve mutual benefits: First, it would stick to the right way of education and develop the School of Journalism and Communication into one that satisfies the Party and the public under the guidance of Marxist views upon journalism. Second, SISU would enhance its internal cultural development, establish and perfect the mechanisms and systems favorable for the career development of the teaching staff so that the School of Journalism and Communication would own a high-caliber elite teaching team with an international perspective. Third, SISU should following tightly the rules for developing new journalistic professionals under the new circumstances in this new era so that the quality of graduates in journalism and communication could be ensured and a first-class journalistic team that is politically firm, professional in practices, well-behaved in morality and satisfactory for the Party and people could be built for the construction of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Fourth, SISU would take the full advantage of its international studies, build the think tanks over global public opinion, satisfy Shanghai’s major demands in press and publicity and fix the practical problems in the fields of journalism and communication so as to provide consultancy for the construction of Shanghai’s capacity of international communication.

Mr. Yang Jian, director of the Press Office of Publicity Department of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, reported the current progress of the cooperation in developing the School of Journalism and Communication. In order to bring new ground for the education of Marxist views upon journalism, push forward the cooperation between SISU and the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and fully implement the basic task of educating people and helping them foster virtues, as well as develop a group of backup high-caliber comprehensive professionals in journalism with patriotic devotions and international perspective, the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee would provide 5 million RMB annually in the first round of co-construction from 2019 to 2021 for developing the School of Journalism and Communication at SISU.

Professor Guo Ke, dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, also delivered his report over the basic guidelines of the co-construction. He said that the orientations and targets of the cooperation were focused on the demands of the Department of Publicity of the CPC Central Committee and its “Opinions on Enhancing the Capability of Professional Development in Journalism and Communication at the Universities and Other Institutes and Carrying out Version 2.0 of the Development Plan for Excellent Professionals in Journalism and Communication”. The characteristic advantages of SISU in global communication studies and international multi-lingual journalistic education would be fully made use of to assist the media in Shanghai, to develop high end professionals and foster a friendly atmosphere for global communication and to improve Shanghai’s capability of international communication.

According to the agreement, both parties would follow the principles of development, cooperation and mutual benefits, make full of their respective advantages and carry out cooperation in building elite teams of international journalism and communication, practice bases and think tanks over global public opinion.