Robert Patrick Borris, is the Vice Dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology (SPST) at Tianjin University. Since he came to TJU in 2013 as an expert in international higher education management, he has been dedicated to the "international pilot college construction” project by optimizing the school’s administrative system that matches international standards. His popularity with the teachers and students has gained him the nickname “Professor Bob”.
Teacher Wei，responsible for foreign affairs at SPST said that “Even before he officially joined us, Professor Bob discussed the curriculum reform with our teaching staff. After he came to our school, he immediately set to establish an English-based curriculum offering BS, MS and PhD degrees, which has never been done in China before. He introduced advanced theories and curriculum designs to our school and made some adaptations to suit Chinese students. He contributed greatly to our school’s internationalized teaching reform. “
The English-based curriculum proposed by Professor Borris requires all SPST students to have an all-English learning environment. “It is not easy for them at the beginning,” Professor Borris said, “but to be competitive on an international level, students must enhance their English. It will definitely help them a lot when they do scientific research and experiments in future.” The curriculum also attaches great importance to doing experiments. “Each student has to attend an experimental class every term. They will actually do it, instead of simply reading and memorizing. Experiments will help students to thoroughly grasp what they have learnt.”
To promote the educational reform, Professor Borris invited excellent teachers and academicians to work and teach at TJU.
Borris said that he has already fallen in love with Tianjin and Tianjin University. “Tianjin is a very comfortable city for foreigners to live in and Tianjin University is a great university. It craves for development and strives to become one of the best universities in China. The university provides abundant financial support to research. I will try to introduce more excellent teachers to come and teach here.” He hopes his students can get further education in an improving environment and that is how he understands the China Dream in education.
Professor Borris won the 2017 Tianjin Haihe Friendship Award together with nine other international talents working in Tianjin.
By Cheng Tao
Editors: Yin Wei & Doris Harrington
