8 January 2019
On the morning of 8 January 2019, the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) held a press conference on its 2019 undergraduate entrance examination in the conference room on the first floor of the Foxi Building. President Huang Changyong, Deputy Party Secretary Hu Min and Vice President Liu Qing attended the press conference, as well as Yi Tianfu, Dean of the Stage Design, Liu Zhixin, Director of the Admissions Office, Bao Lifeng, Deputy Director of the Party Committee Office and President’s Office and Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the Party Committee, and Wang Huan, Deputy Director of the Admissions Office.
21 media organizations including People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, China Education Daily, Wenhui Daily, Jiefang Daily, Xinmin Evening News, Shanghai TV Station and various major portal websites and 23 reporters attended the press conference. The press conference was presided over by Bao Lifeng, Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the Party Committee.
The leaders and experts present at the meeting had in-depth and lively interactive exchange with the reporters from the various media organizations with regard to the matters related to the undergraduate entrance examination of the Shanghai Theatre Academy.
In order to facilitate candidates’ registration for the examination, this year's undergraduate entrance examination of the Shanghai Theatre Academy is divided into two phases. The first phase will be from 14 to 23 January with examinations for 11 majors under four departments. Listed in the order of examination dates, these include: acting (Peking Opera), performance (music for traditional Chinese opera) and composition and composing technique theory (music design and production for traditional Chinese opera) under the College of Traditional Chinese Opera; dance performance (ballet), dance performance (Chinese dance), dance performance (international ballroom dance), dance performance (national standard dance) and directing for dance under the College of Dance; artistic design for theatre, film and television (stage design), artistic design for theatre, film and television (lighting design) and artistic design for theatre, film and television (costume and makeup) under the Department of Stage Design; digital media art under the College of Creative Studies.
The second phase of the examination will be from 15 February to 2 March. The departments and majors involved include the Acting Department, Directing Department, Department of Theatrical Literature, College of Film and Television, and College of Traditional Chinese Opera (directing for theatre, film and television - traditional Chinese opera & performance - puppet). The fact that this year’s examination has two phases will enable more candidates to have the opportunity to participate in the examination of the Shanghai Theatre Academy.
This year's enrollment scale and number increase slightly compared with last year. The proposed enrollment last was 464 students, while the proposed enrollment this year is 484 students. As of 7 pm on 7 January, the number of applications this year reached 34,827. The deadline for registration for the 2019 entrance examination is 7 pm, 10 January 2019.
This year's undergraduate entrance examination includes the newly added Dramaturgy major which proposes to enroll 15 students whose results in the national university entrance examination (Gaokao) should reach the first tier university cut-off score (with the subject prerequisite being not less than 110 for Chinese). The other major which requires not less than first tier university cut-off score is Art Administration. These two majors do not undergo the Shanghai Theatre Academy’s own examination, and the admission will be decided according to the candidates’ results in the national university entrance examination (Gaokao).
In recent years, in the practice of enrollment examination reform, we have continuously optimized the examination processes, refined the examination contents, deepened the professional connotation, and strived to achieve the unity of the principle of "openness, fairness and justice" and the selection mechanism of excellent artistic talents. In the 2019 undergraduate entrance examination, the examination items are optimized in most of the most of the major-specific preliminary examination processes. The three to four items of the preliminary examination in the past have been optimized to two items this year. The preliminary examination is designed to focus more on examining the candidates’ basic professional quality. The contents of the callbacks and final callbacks are further refined so as to fully examine the candidates with professional quality and select those outstanding ones with the potential for artistic cultivation.
This year's undergraduate entrance examination will be carried out in different phases. The arrangement of examination venues will be more rational and more effective to provide an optimized examination environment. The allocation and arrangement of examination venues and examiners will be improved with an increased number of examiners including an appropriate increase of external examiners. At the same time, the use of information technology will be further increased to optimize the examination processes for the candidates including the optimized processes for registration, sign-in and confirmation of examination area so as to reduce students’ waiting time. For the preliminary examinations by way of interview, the results will be published on the same day, so as to reduce the students’ waiting time for the results.
This year, the callbacks of the Acting Department will be divided into four categories of voice, text, movement and acting for separate examinations. The examiners will be more professional, and the assessment will be more scientific.
In recent years, the Shanghai Theatre Academy has taken the lead in promoting the reform of the examination system for undergraduate enrollment of art students, constantly optimizing the examination processes, refining the examination contents and deepening the professional connotation, and striving to achieve the unity of the principle of "openness, fairness and fairness" and the selection mechanism for excellent artistic talents. Since the implementation of the reform, the number of candidates applying to the Shanghai Theatre Academy has been increasing year by year, and the quality of the source of students has been continuously improved, thus creating a sound situation for student enrollment.
