USTC: USTC Publishes Scientific Literacy Textbook
Recently, a scientific literacy textbook named SCIENCE AND SOCIETY compiled by the Academic Affairs Office was officially published by the Press of University of Science and Technology of China (USTC).
“Science and Society” is a compulsory course for freshmen to carry out the reform of undergraduate teaching and implementing the “Quality Enhancement Plan for the First-class Undergraduate Education”. It is also an important general education course in USTC with its aim to practice moral education and cultivate students’ “scientist spirit” and improving their comprehensive quality and scientific literacy.
Throughout this course, the school intends to help students adapt to university life as soon as possible, and guide them to pay attention to science as well as the country and the society, and to understand the needs of the country and society.
One of the important part of the course is keynote speech, with the keynote speakers ranging from famous scientists and entrepreneurs in various fields to chief designers and chief scientists of “Pillars of the Great Power”. These experts responded positively to the school’s invite, taking time out of their busy schedule to shared their knowledge and experience with the students. Intended to cultivate and enhance students’ sense of responsibility and mission, the reports focus on topics like the important role of science and technology in promoting social development, the future development trend of science and technology, and the problems and challenges human faced in sustainable development, which were greatly welcomed by the students. It is hoped that this course will inspire young students to devote themselves to the cause of science and guide them always to love their country, to shoulder social responsibilities, to strengthen cultural self-confidence and to abide by the ethics of science and technology.
As a supporting reference textbook for this course, SCIENCE AND SOCIETY collects the brilliant contents of the keynote speech given by famous scientists or entrepreneurs invited by our university for this course in recent three years, covering fields like Energy, Chemistry, New Materials, Quantum Communication, Life Science, Medicine, Information Science and so on. The book includes the development trend of frontier science and the role of scientific and technological progress in the development of human society, as well as the sharing of the experts’ scientific exploration or life experience.
Being listed as one of the fundamental textbooks of USTC’s “Publishing Projects for First-class Textbooks Planning”, SCIENCE AND SOCIETY not only reflects the latest achievements of our undergraduate education reform, but also is a vital step in implementing the practical work of the Party Committee of USTC and its press’ objective to serve the teaching work of the university.