In a recent international evaluation carried out on March 20-21, the Academic Degree Programs in Education at Zhejiang University delivered an impressive performance. A panel of 9 educational experts from home and abroad made a diagnosis and assessment of various academic degree programs in the discipline of education at ZJU's College of Education from 2012-2016, and provided their valuable feedback accordingly.

The panel, led by Prof. Yang Rui, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong, was composed of experts from world-renowned universities. It included Prof. Anthony Welch from the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, Prof. Bernadette Baker from the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Prof. Creso Sa from Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto, Prof. Zhang Liang from the Department of Administration, Leadership, and Technology at New York University, Prof. Yong-Je Woo from  the Department of Education at Seoul National University, Prof. Jessica Li from the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Meanwhile, Mr. Li Ruihong, former Curator of Zhejiang Museum of Science and Technology and Mr. Zheng Jianhua, Vice Principal of Hangzhou Changjiang Experiment Primary School, were invited as peer experts.

The international evaluation involved self-evaluation reports, data access, class observation, interviews with faculty members and students, the close-door meeting of the experts panel and feedback. On the morning of March 20, Prof. Gu Jianmin, Dean of the College of Education, extended his cordial welcome to every expert and scholar present. He hoped that this evaluation would open up considerable scope for further development. Prof. Kan Yue, Vice Dean of the College of Education presented a self-evaluation report on the programs in the discipline of education. The report detailed orientation and aim, faculty construction, talent cultivation, scientific research, globalization and services. The panel also heard self-evaluation reports concerning 6 secondary disciplines and the Master of Education (MED).

In the afternoon, the panel observed two courses - E-Learning and Science of Teaching and Reading & Translation of English Literature in Education - and conducted interviews with faculty members and students respectively.

Immediately after the close-door meeting on March 21, Prof. Yang Rui provided the feedback of the panel. He poured praise on the achievements that the College of Education has achieved in recent years. Experts reached a consensus that ZJU has taken a lead domestically in the discipline of education. They also expressed their sincere hope that the discipline of education would be built into a world-class one as soon as possible.

Prof. Gu Jianmin made a positive response to the panel's feedback on behalf of the College of Education. He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the panel for their assiduous, meticulous and professional evaluation work. ''The college will take practical measures and make unswerving improvements so as to lay a solid foundation for the construction of a world-class discipline,'' said Gu.

Prof. Ye Gongyin, Vice Dean of the Graduate School, stressed that ZJU will continue to lend generous support to the College of Education in terms of admissions, talent cultivation, curriculum development and exchange programs.

Prof. Zheng Qiang, Vice President of Zhejiang University, stated that the opinions of the panel are of immense significance to the construction of the discipline of education and talent cultivation. ''ZJU will incorporate these constructive opinions to upgrade the quality of talent cultivation incessantly and promote the construction of a world-class university,'' said Zheng.

This self-evaluation will inspire various academic degree programs in the discipline of education to continuously promote the education quality core competitiveness of postgraduates, thereby adding powerful impetus to the goal of ''creating world-class disciplines in a world-class university''.