In the past spring semester of 2020, we all went through a special "big test". With the deployment for theopening of the fallsemester nationwide being gradually put in place, we have more expectations for the coming new semester. As the fall semester of 2020 is approaching, we present this article, i.e. STA’s Answer Sheet ina "Big Test", to jointly express the best wishes to Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) for the harvest in the golden autumn after undergoing the "big test".
During the COVID-19 outbreak, the empty dormitory rooms were cleaned up by the staff of dormitory management, the personal belongings of students were kept safe, the bedding items were properly aired and dried, and the disinfection work in each are of the dormitory buildings was carried out meticulously. Not only that, after the start of online teaching, because some of the school supplies needed by students were left in the school, the relevant staff members, at the request of the students concerned, also couriered the items to their homes in various provinces and cities in a timely manner. By the middle of August, the STA has provided 787 courier services, and has aired and dried bedding items for 873 students.
The employment pressure coupled by the COVID-19 situation made the work of employment for Year 2020 graduates a top priority. Facing the severe employment situation this year, STA launched a series of unusual measures to boost the employment of graduates.
On 23 June, STA held its first online graduation ceremony since its establishment, conferring bachelor's degree to 385 students, master's degree to 103 students and doctor's degree to 14 students. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this might be the smallest graduation ceremony in the history of STA. But it could also be said as the largest graduation ceremony because the friendship between teachers and students, artistic ideal, imagination for the future and seeds hope were spread all over the world through the Internet.
On the Chinese New Year Eve on 24 January, STA issued a notice to postpone the time of its Year 2020 private examination/audition for art majors. Entering into April, all majors and levels (undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students) formulated the changed scheme of examination/audition methods according to their own characteristics. Offline examination/audition was completely canceled and adjusted to online interview, online written test, online recording and submission of video works. A massive online enrolment came in a way that people had not expected. In order to ensure fairness and justice, and ensure the quality of enrollment, the online examination/audition platform with the functions of face recognition, online recording and real-time video uploading was selected by STA for its first-ever comprehensive online enrollment, so that the examination/audition data could be uploaded, stored, downloaded and read in a safe and effective manner. Crisis is often the catalyst for new mode and new form, but the premise is that one must take the initiative to respond. Only in this way can new opportunities, new situations and new patterns be created as the result.
With the normalization of COVID-19 prevention and control, the STA campuses have gradually regained its vitality. People coming in and out of the campuses all know that this peace of mind has come from the scientific COVID-19 prevention and control system established by the school.
The campuses with almost no students returning were relatively quiet, but there was a clear rhythm running through the campuses during this special semester, i.e. laying a solid foundation and plan well for the future development of the school. 2020 is the concluding year of the “13th Five Year Plan” period and the planning year of the “14th Five Year Plan” period. It is a year when the external evaluation and inspection coexist with the internal "fitout" governance, as STA will receive the fifth round of discipline evaluation and professional-degree rankings evaluation of the Ministry of Education and the university classification evaluation of Shanghai. There is no doubt that the successful completion of these established tasks will be of great importance to the development of STA in the next five years or even beyond.
Since March, in order to ensure the scientific nature of the decisions made in the 14th five year plan of STA, the school has held more than ten research meetings to solicit opinions and suggestions from various departments, colleges and functional offices as well as alumni. On 3 July, a special invitation letter was sent via the official WeChat account of STA, inviting all STAers to make comments and suggestions for the development of the school during the “14th Five Year Plan” period, and to jointly explore the development path with STA characteristics and experience.
On 22 April, the “2020 Conference on the Work of Comprehensive and Strict Governance of the Party” was held, which injected new impetus into the efforts to deepen and refine the construction of the "Four Responsibilities Coordination" mechanism for comprehensive and strict Party governance.
On 27 April, the Shanghai Theatre Academy signed the agreement for a new round of district-university cooperation with the Minhang District People's government. In 2020, two STA campuses have settled in Minhang District. The signing of the agreement for this round of cooperation will surely enable both sides to make in-depth planning for the strategic cooperation during the “14th Five Year Plan” period with stronger motivation further optimized mechanism. Both the Chinese Opera Center in the STA Lianhua Road Campus and the Film, Television and New Media Center in the STA Changlin Road Campus will shine in Shanghai relying on the region.
In June, the STA signed an agreement with the Red Star Macalline Holding Group Co Ltd, a well-known enterprise. Both sides agreed to cooperate in areas such as joint education programs, education and teaching, research and academics, and the Red Star Macalline Holding Group donated education funds to STA, marking a new leap forward in university-enterprise cooperation.
On 14 May, the study and education of "the history of the party, the history of new China, the history of reform and opening-up, and the history of socialist development" was launched in an all-round way.
In late May, the first round inspection group of the 8th CPC Committee of Shanghai Theatre Academy entered the Film and Television College and the affiliated Dance School, marking the official commencement of STA’s internal inspection work.
On 18 June, the 8th Teachers Congress & the 3rd Session of the 12th Trade Union Congress of Shanghai Theatre Academy was held, which became the first teachers and trade union congresses held by STA by way of online and offline combination. At the meetings, such documents such as the “System of Secondary Teachers Congress of Shanghai Theatre Academy” were passed by vote.
In July, the application for the establishment of the "Education Development Foundation of Shanghai Theatre Academy" was approved by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. The system support for "establishing first-class art education" in STA will become more complete in the "14th Five Year Plan" period.
The spring semester of 2020 was also the preparatory period for the Education and Teaching Conference of Shanghai Theatre Academy. Taking such a long time to prepare and repeatedly discuss the contents and expected outcomes, the importance of the conference is self-evident. The education and teaching conference scheduled to be held after the beginning of the fall semester in September will be another important university-wide meeting to clarify the direction, achieve consensus and open up the future after the promotion meeting for establishing moral values and cultivating talents of the Shanghai Theatre Academy held in December 2019.
With STA’s answer sheet in the spring semester of 2020, we are more eager to witness the new beginning that is soon approaching.
