As part of Xiamen University’s centenary celebrations, CFLC hosted a number of academic forums in April 2021. They included the International Forum on Translation and Interpreting Education and Evaluation, the International Forum on Discursive Construction of a Community of a Shared Future for Mankind, and the International Forum on Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies. Staged as part of the International Forum on Humanities and Social Sciences, these forums brought together leading experts, young scholars, teachers and students from many renowned universities and research institutes at home and abroad to discuss research frontiers, academic program development, talent training, and opportunities and challenges in their respective fields.
These high-level forums all turned out to be great successes, drawing renowned experts and academics from home and abroad in the fields of translation and interpreting, linguistics, comparative literature and cross-cultural studies. More than 400 people, including editors-in-chief of leading journals, deans of sister colleges, senior scholars and young researchers, gathered together to exchange academic ideas and insights. The forums were also broadcast live online, with simultaneous interpreting in Chinese, English and the Chinese and English sign languages, the first time for academic symposia in China.
Quan Hai, Deputy Secretary of the XMU Party Committee, speaks at the forum.
Fang Ying, Assistant to the President of XMU, speaks at the forum.
Chen Zhiwei, Secretary of the CFLC Party Committee, speaks at the forum.
Chen Jing, Dean of CFLC, speaks at the forum.
The forums delved into the frontier issues in the relevant fields, focusing on to the current hot topics and exploring academic development strategies. The forums also provided a platform for experts and academics to further deepen communication, pool ideas and discuss how foreign language education can better serve national and local construction. Among the forums, the Dean’s Forum on the Development of Foreign Literature in the Context of New Liberal Arts Construction focused on the current development of foreign language disciplines in the new era, the opportunities and challenges going forward, and the reform path of foreign language education. At the forum, participants discussed in depth the cultivation of talent in universities, faculty development, cultural communication, the promotion of cross-fertilization between language and other disciplines, and the responsibility of linguists towards society.
During the forum, an inaugural ceremony was held for the Interpreting Education Evaluation Association. The association is intended to advance the research and exploration of the evaluation of interpreting education, foreign affairs personnel training and qualification certification in China, by taking advantage of the disciplinary advantages of Xiamen University’s interpreting discipline and pooling the resources of first-class interpreting education institutions worldwide and industry associations.
The Interpreting Education Evaluation Association inaugurated
This series of forums included keynote speeches, parallel forums and group discussions. Experts and academics from various fields used their own research as the starting point to express their insights and explore the ways of academic exchange, win-win cooperation and mutual appreciation of civilization from multiple perspectives. Among the forums, the High-Level Scholars Forum focused on national foreign language capabilities and foreign language education. The International Scholars Forum drew several renowned academics from Harvard University, the University of Milano-Bicocca, the University of Agder and the University of Cambridge to share their views on the hot topics of functional linguistics and psycholinguistics by video link. In the XMU Centenary Summit Forum on Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies, renowned scholars from different universities held a summit discussion on the frontier issues of comparative literature and intercultural studies. In the “Editors-in-Chief’s Messages” session, many editors-in-chief of authoritative journals in the field of foreign literature expressed their views on the current opportunities and challenges of foreign and comparative literature, providing practical advice and suggestions for young scholars on issues related to the publication of their papers.
The Expert Forum on Education and Evaluation of Sign Language Interpreters was the first one of its kind in China to gather representatives from domestic and international education institutions, certification bodies, industry associations and stakeholders in the field of sign language interpreting to exchange views on the professionalization of Chinese sign language interpreting education, the development of a scientific evaluation and certification system for sign language interpreters, and the promotion of an accessible information environment in Chinese society.
CFLC gives full play to its advantages as a specialized school with close ties with Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities, playing a significant role in the development of the Maritime Silk Road. The success of this series of forums contributes to the efforts of Xiamen University to build a distinctive Chinese world-class university.
