On the morning of May 9, a delegation from China Scholarship Council (CSC) visited TYUT. The delegation was led by its Deputy Secretary-General Wang Shenggang and accompanied by He Linyou, Deputy Secretary of Shanxi Provincial Party Committee Education Working Committee and Member of Shanxi Provincial Education Department Party Group; and Han Ruiyong, Director of the International Cooperation and Exchange Division of Shanxi Provincial Department of Education and Director of Shanxi Provincial Overseas Students Management Office. The delegation came to TYUT for a survey of the state-sponsored study abroad programs, especially the study abroad programs for young backbone teachers. To this end, a discussion was held in the meeting room 324 of the main office building at the Yingxi campus of TYUT. President Huang Qingxue, Vice President Lv Yongkang, the heads of the Personnel Division and College of International Education Exchange of TYUT as well as the representatives of the returned young backbone teachers from state-sponsored study abroad programs attended the discussion. The meeting was hosted by He Linyou.

Huang Qingxue expressed his gratitude to CSC for its strong support to TYUT over the years and reported in detail the status and outstanding issues of TYUT’s state-sponsored study abroad programs, especially the study abroad programs for young backbone teachers, as well as its recruitment of international students. He stated that TYUT had achieved good results in promoting international collaborative research through various ways such as state-sponsored study abroad programs, and in deepening the cultural exchanges with countries along the “Belt and Road” through recruiting international students and undertaking the building of Confucius Institutes overseas etc. “TYUT attaches great importance to the internationalization work and will unswervingly follow the path of international development”, he added, “and “it is hoped that CSC could consider the specific situations of the universities in the central and western regions in its top-level design and implementation of the study abroad programs, and take effective measures to support them so as to eliminate the problem of uneven and insufficient international development”.

This is the third visit of Wang Shenggang to TYUT since he became the deputy secretary-general of CSC. He fully affirmed the achievements that TYUT had made in the internationalization work; and stated that “CSC attaches great importance to the development of universities in the central and western regions and will increase its support to them. In particular, CSC will explore with Shanxi Province the ways to internationalize universities in the central and western regions”. He also put forward specific requirements on certain aspects of the two-directional study abroad programs, especially ensuring the ideological stance of state-sponsored overseas students, strengthening the management of the young backbone teacher training programs at the university level and increasing the publicity for the recruitment of international students etc.

He Linyou pointed out when hosting the discussion, “At the opportune moment when a provincial education conference has just concluded and when the education of Shanxi is facing a historical opportunity for development, Deputy Secretary-General Wang Shenggang visits Shanxi, which reflects the care and support that the Ministry of Education and CSC gives to the education of Shanxi, especially its higher education. The survey delegation has expounded the guidelines of state-sponsored study abroad programs, objectively analyzed the existing problems in Shanxi Province, and put forward solutions and requirements. This survey provides Shanxi with a rare learning opportunity and will greatly promote relevant work in Shanxi. We will work hard to achieve major breakthroughs in international cooperation and exchanges and lay a solid foundation for the development of Shanxi's education and the “Double First-Class" construction of TYUT.

The representatives of the returned young backbone teachers from state-sponsored study abroad programs of TYUT, including Li Libo, Yao Jianjun, Yao Aiying, Guo Chunli, Zhang Leike and Zuo Zhijun, referring to their respective visit experiences, introduced their gains from the overseas study and the progresses they made in their work after returning to school, and put forward suggestions for improving the programs.