On the evening of October 31, 2025, Professor Zhang Weilei from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics (SUIBE) was invited to speak at Northwest University’s “Distinguished Lecture Series.” She delivered a lecture titled “The Actual Situation and Desirable Choices in Talent Cultivation for Country and Region Studies: Where Do the Shortcomings Lie?” Professor Zhang holds multiple prominent roles, including Professor at the School of International Business and Foreign Languages, Chair of the University Foreign Language Department Alliance for Country and Region Studies and Language Strategy, and Executive Council Member of the China Association of International Trade Professional Committee on Country and Region Studies, Executive Council Member of the China Association of Higher Education Division of Country and Region Studies, and Executive Council Member of the University Alliance for Talent Development and Discipline Construction in Country and Region Studies. The lecture was chaired by Associate Professor He Hua, Director of the MTI Education Center at Northwest University, and was attended by over one hundred faculty members and students.
When discussing the research background, Professor Zhang emphasized that cultivating a large number of high-quality talents in Country and Region Studies who can meet the needs of major national policy research is an essential requirement for China’s active participation in reforming and building the global governance system and for constructing a community with a shared future for mankind. This is also highly significant for important initiatives such as telling China’s stories well and advancing the Belt and Road construction. However, Professor Zhang pointed out that there are currently notable deficiencies in China’s Country and Region Studies talent pool, which cannot yet form a driving force for the discipline’s sustainable development and struggle to fully align with national strategic needs. Professor Zhang stated that talent cultivation in this field started late, involves few universities, and suffers from both insufficient numbers and relatively low quality. Additionally, issues such as narrow training fields and a lack of field investigation persist. The underlying reasons include challenges in interdisciplinary integration, an underdeveloped knowledge system, unreasonable curriculum design, rigid faculty structures lacking interdisciplinary academic backgrounds, and severe homogenization in talent cultivation - all issues that cannot be overlooked. Professor Zhang further proposed that to break this situation, the central government needs to establish sound top-level design, local authorities should serve as a bridge in conducting organized talent cultivation, and universities should actively implement and innovate talent cultivation policies. She also emphasized learning from international advanced experiences, constructing interdisciplinary curriculum systems, and building a knowledge system for Country and Region Studies with Chinese characteristics.
Toward the end of her presentation, Professor Zhang specifically recommended her edited book The Theory and Methods of Interdisciplinary Research in Country and Region Studies to all faculty and students. The book focuses on 11 disciplines including linguistics, foreign literature, and translation studies, systematically explaining the integration paths and research paradigms between these disciplines and Country and Region Studies. The event concluded with Professor Zhang engaging in exchanges with faculty and students on pathways for cultivating talent in Country and Region Studies, amid a warm academic and interactive atmosphere.
This lecture broadened the perspectives of faculty and students in the School of Foreign Languages on Country and Region Studies, deepened their understanding of this field, and provided theoretical support and case studies for talent cultivation pathways in Country and Region Studies.
Speaker: Professor Zhang Weilei
Host: Associate Professor He Hua
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Group Photo
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