The virtual teaching and research office for the course of the Chinese-Arabic advanced translation tutorial held the first online communication event on June 24. It carried out discussions on the key topics of textbook compilation and curriculum design.

The participants were teachers and key members of teaching and research offices from eight universities. They were Beijing International Studies University (BISU), Peking University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Shanghai International Studies University, Tianjin Foreign Studies University, Sichuan International Studies University and Dalian University of Foreign Languages.

Hou Yuxiang, head of the teaching and research office and dean of the School of Middle Eastern Studies of BISU, explained the background of the virtual teaching and research office, the goals and contents, its organizational structure and work plan.

BISU’s professors such as Zhang Hongyi, Xiao Ling and Wei Qirong, Ye Liangying, a professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University and Jin Xin, an associate professor of Tianjin Foreign Studies University gave speeches on virtual teaching and research office integrating with constructions of majors and textbooks.

Zhang noted that the virtual teaching and research office provides a cross-university and cross-region platform of cooperation, communication and resource sharing for the meaningful compilation of the 14th Five-Year Plan national planned textbooks carried out by the Arabic language major, which is an important guarantee for the smooth completion of the textbook compilation.

Ye said that the virtual teaching and research office is built based on the textbook compilation team, providing a new platform for the communication of Arabic language majors across the country. She added that the virtual teaching and research office should not only serve for the compilation of textbooks but also can lay solid foundation for the national teaching and research work.

Xiao pointed out that the virtual teaching and research office is a new idea, new method and a new mode of the new teaching organization and management. “We are in the internet era, which means that we should use internet technology to break down physical barriers and break through the space-time limit in order to realize resource sharing and promote the integration of educational thoughts and methods,” she said. She added the Arabic language major should use the virtual teaching and research office to open up new prospects for cooperation and exchanges.

The virtual teaching and research office for the course of the Chinese-Arabic advanced translation tutorial is a national teaching and research office and was established based on the compilation team of national textbooks in the 14th Five-Year Plan.  

It was built with advanced ideas and equipped with fully functional facilities, aimed at training high-level teaching teams, improving the teaching ability of teachers and creating a new ecology of translation education.