People.cn
28 December 2014
Reporter: Xuanzhao
Recently, Shanghai Theatre Academy announced that it will collaborate with Yale University, Brown University, Duke University, Columbia University and Princeton University to hold the 4th Winter Institute at the campus of Shanghai Theatre Academy very soon. It was learnt that the Winter Institute is a new model adopted by Shanghai Theatre Academy in the exploration of international arts education.
As learnt by the reporter of People.cn, in accordance with its 12th Five Year Plan, Shanghai Theatre Academy is continuously and effectively undertaking a variety of activities of international exchange with the objectives of upgrading its vision and quality of teaching through the adoption of internationalized development strategies to not only serve the improvement of its own teaching quality, but also serve the cultivation of high quality art talents for the whole country and, more importantly, serve the creation and consolidation of the soft cultural strengths of China and Shanghai.
Dialogue and Exchange with World’s Top Universities
As an international cosmopolitan city, Shanghai has diversified levels and forms of cultural exchange. Shanghai Theatre Academy will definitely capitalized on its geographical advantages as a Shanghai-based university. Now, Shanghai Theatre Academy is very active in international exchange and is advancing its international exchange programs in an orderly manner. On the basis of the existing achievements in internationalization, Shanghai Theatre Academy is stabilizing the international cooperation for which sound relationships have been established. In the meantime, from a national strategy perspective, it is reaching out to the world’s top universities on a continuous basis to establish mutual contact, dialogue and exchange so as to upgrade the level of international exchange progressively. To date, Shanghai Theatre Academy has established exchange and cooperative relationships in 26 countries and regions globally and has developed inter-university collaboration with a large number of top art universities in Russia, USA, Japan, Italy, UK and India, as well as China’s Hong Kong and Taiwan region.
According to Mr Lou Wei, Shanghai Theatre Academy’s party secretary, the Winter Institute has been held successfully for three times and what is now upcoming is the 4th Winter Institute. The partner universities of the Winter Institute are all Ivy League universities, such as Yale University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Brown University and Duke University etc. Professors of these universities come to teach at the Winter Institute bringing with them the latest results of their research projects and teaching practice. The students include not only those students from the leading Chinese universities, but also students from the leading universities in the USA and UK. Shanghai Theatre Academy also continues to upgrade the standard of internationalized education and has opened to the cultural and creative industry course in collaboration with the relevant university in London and the foundation course for undergraduate program in collaboration with New York Film Academy.
Establish brand projects and establish international education and teaching platform
Shanghai Theatre Academy’s initiatives in international exchange and cooperation include the establishment of the Asia Pacific Bureau of International Theatre Institute (ITI) of UNESCO, International Small Theatre Festival, Asia Pacific Theatre Expo, International Master Class in Dance, International Master Class in Directing, International Theatrical Art University Directors Forum etc. At present, Shanghai Theatre Academy is establishing a series of brand projects for long-term development, including the Winter Institute. Apart from the Winter Institute, there is also the Summer Institute. The former focuses more on the interaction between the professors and students of the prestigious universities from home and abroad, while the latter focuses more on the exchange among the students of the prestigious universities from home and abroad.
Developing more international programs and attracting more students from the world’s top universities to come to China for study is not only the responsibility of the art universities like Shanghai Theatre Academy, but also something for the joint efforts by other universities. China’s modernization process has attracted the attention of the whole world. So many people of insight all over the world are willing and even longing to witness and participate in this process together with us. The fact that the teachers and students of Shanghai Theatre Academy continue to broaden the vision and define the sense of mission has added new connotations to the advancement of their own international profile.
Implement international education strategy for students
The international education strategy for students is divided into two parts. The first part is to send the students of Shanghai Theatre Academy overseas for study and internship. Shanghai Theatre Academy works actively to broaden the international vision of its students and sends selected students overseas for exchange and study and makes great efforts to undertake student exchange programs. The overseas study and internship opportunities and overseas performance projects for students, such as micro-film filming in the USA and New Zealand, Avignon Theatre Festival in France and International University Students Arts Festival etc, have greatly enriched the contents of Shanghai Theatre Academy’s international exchange and fundamentally upgraded the level of international exchange and, therefore, make the students of Shanghai Theatre Academy better placed in terms of international competitiveness. The second part is to develop the education for overseas students. Now, Shanghai Theatre Academy is upgrading the level of the programs, expanding the enrolment categories and increasing the enrolment thresholds for overseas students on a continuous basis and has formed a multi-level system of educational structures including short-term advanced study, long-term advanced study, undergraduate programs and postgraduate programs. Furthermore, Shanghai Theatre Academy is strengthening the development of curriculums and majors for overseas students on a continuous basis, as well as the overseas promotion of Shanghai Theatre Academy’s majors.
Establish mechanisms for bringing in international talents
International strategy is an important part of the overall strategy to strengthen the university by cultivating and bringing in talented personnel. Shanghai Theatre Academy has increased the overseas visits, exchange and study programs for selected teachers of key programs and leading teachers thereby greatly upgrading the international level of the contingent of teachers. At the same time, Shanghai Theatre Academy pays great attention to the quality of foreign experts. It brings in world renowned experts and professors in the field of art and explores a variety of mechanism including fixed-term guest professors, short-term experts and workshop lecturers. It endeavors to bring in high quality teaching resources from overseas so as to make up for the deficiency in research and teaching and handle the projects that its own teachers can’t handle or find difficult to handle and, therefore, facilitates the improvement of the overall teaching standard of the whole university. Now, Shanghai Theatre Academy has made an important step forward in introducing high quality resources from overseas including internationally famous personnel in theatre education. Some of the good examples include: International Expert Workshop on Innovation in New Media Performance, on-campus performance by Odin Theatre, appointment of world renowned experts and scholars as honorary professors including Eugenio Barba, Han-Georg Knopp and Ovindiu Corneliu Dumitrui. Prof Nicholas Barter, former President of Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, has come to teach and provide guidance on performance at Shanghai Theatre Academy for a number of times over the past few years.
