The “Trail Plan of Outstanding Student Training of Basic Science” is a specialized training program implemented in the College of Chemistry and it relies on support from the National Chemistry Person-Training Base of Sichuan University, the National and Local Incorporated Engineering Laboratory, and the Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology (Ministry of Education). Among the faculty involved in this unique training program are one academician from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, three “Changjiang Scholars” of the Ministry of Education, four national Outstanding Young Investigator Award winners, more than ten Cross-Century Talents of theMinistry of Education, and one foreign native English-speaker. The “Trail Plan of Outstanding Student Training of Basic Science” of the College of Chemistry was implemented to take advantage of these valuable internationally recognized intellectual resources so as to provide in-depth training to our highest level and most creative undergraduate students and nurtue them to become the next leaders on the international chemical research front.

1.Training Aim

The aim of this program is to cultivate and nurture the highest level, most outstanding and creative young scientists in the College of Chemistry so as to become the future leaders in the field to the benefit of the nation and society in general. It is envisioned that within the next 10~20 years, the numerous top-level scientists cultivated by this program will achieve a number of hallmark scientific results that demonstrate both originality and worldwide significance/influence. Graduates of this program should distinguish themselves and exemplify Sichuan University as follows:

1)In addition to possessing knowledge and culture, they should be characterized as “being virtuous and learned, open-minded and pursuing goodness”;

2)They should have a productive imagination and academic creativity;

3)They must possess an international outlook and a greater sense of social responsibility;

4)A outstanding Chemistry student from this program will be a luminary for Sichuan, as well as one who possesses outstanding chemical intelligence, inspires others chemists, and demonstrates a bold outlook for the future of Chemistry throughout the globe.

2.Cultivating Thinking

For cultivating top-level scientists in Chemistry and Chemistry-related subjects, it is necessary to discover and select the students interested in chemical research and carefully build a good environment that encourages exchange between a number of the most excellent students,so that they can promote each other and grow together. In such a fine academic environment, these excellent students are guided to advocate academics, seek truth from facts, be erudite, progressive, and creative, and excel in their studies.

With a focus on the uniqueness of each student and taking full account of the requirements ofindividualized quality education, several distinct high-level key courses are offered, including personality and attainments, comprehension, expression and exchange, specialty and creation, discussion and exploration, etc., supplemented with innovation activities in and out of class, to realize individualized cultivation.

To maximize student-to-instructor contact, the courses are set to small class sizes. Diversified teaching is carried out, leading the students to learn actively, so as to fully study and explore the subject matter. The goals of this program are:

1)to respect the students’ interests, and to cultivate the ability to question and think guided by the questions;

2)to cultivate the ability to integrate knowledge, discovering questions, raising questions, and solving questions;

3)to cultivate consciousness of innovation andnuture innovative abilities;

4)to cultivate insight into the problems important to humanity, to nuture a comprehensive scientific research ability by combining hearing, doing, writing, and speaking so as to lay the foundation for the further scientific research.

3.Training Program

This unique and highly-specialized training program is designed to:

1)Allow students to carry out tutor-guided research program throughout their whole education; every high-level professor guides 2~3 students per year. At the beginning of this program, a two-way selection process is carried out between the students and the professor. When the student determines his supervisor, he/she will enter that professor’s laboratory and be tasked with a specific scientific research project.

2)Implement the plan of individualized course selection and talent cultivation. The student’s study and research plan in the undergraduate stage are both formulated in collaboration with his/her supervisor, a major guidance group and a teaching group according to the student’s interests and abilities;

3)Carry out classes utilizing discussion and individual researching as a primary teaching mode. Students in this program take both basic and specific courses separate from the public courses offered for the rest of the College to allow for combined classroom teaching and discussion;

4)Inspire the way a student approaches science by including special courses focused on encouraging innovative thinking and increasing specific skills in science and research;

5)Internationalize the teaching content by using undergraduate Chemistry textbooks from international top-level universities, excellent multi-lingual domestic textbooks, so as to expand the student’s knowledge base to adapt with the demand of current international chemical research and application;

6)Arrange for every student to participate in international and/or domestic academic meetings at least 2 times in four years, so as to expose students to international chemical research fronts and provide worldwide insight;

7)Offer summer school and short semester courses that improve the student’s scientific research ability. These courses can take various forms, including inviting famous professors from China and aboard for open short-term courses, summer practice (innovative training plan), etc.

8)Enhance the education of patriotism and mental health, and the cultivation of collaboration.