Water Culture Research Center of Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of Higher Institutions in Jiangxi Province

Nanchang Institute of Technology is an application-oriented higher institution with distinctive feature in water conservancy, and it is the only institution jointly built by Jiangxi Provincial Government and the Ministry of Water Resources, with profound water culture deposits. NIT has been building its spirit and campus culture with water culture all the time. The teaching and scientific research of water culture has become a specialized discipline mainly supported by NIT for construction. At the request of the construction of national water ecological civilization and for the need of the major platform development of characteristic subjects, NIT established “Water Culture and Social Harmonious Development Research Base” in 2007, vigorously publicizing water culture and the teaching and scientific research, having obtained favorable effects. In 2010, NIT once again integrated disciplines resources and concentrated on applying for major research base for humanities and social sciences of higher institutions in Jiangxi Province in the name of “Water Culture Research Center”, and was successfully approved. It became the first “Water Culture Research Center” among national higher institutions, thus opening a new chapter for the teaching and scientific research of water culture in NIT.

The Center is now attached to School of Marxism. Professor Li Shuidi, the original Party Committee Secretary of NIT, serves as Director, Vice President Professor Wang Rongyou serves as Executive Deputy Director, and relevant persons in charge of each school concurrently serve as Deputy Directors. The Center possesses a full-time and part-time scientific research echelon with reasonable structure in professional titles, degrees, ages and majors, including 24 professors, 8 associate professors, 5 lecturers, 24 PhDs, 5 young and middle aged academic leaders of higher institutions, 5 persons enjoying government special allowance, 2 leading talents and 2 academic backbones of provincial philosophy and social sciences, 5 candidates for Jiangxi millions of talents project, 2 talents of Ganpo 555 elites project, and 6 provincial-level famous teachers; the Center has 18 thousand Chinese books and 4 thousand foreign books. In recent five years, members of the Center has presided over more than 150 projects of state, provincial and ministerial level, with scientific research funds of over 11 million yuan, published 21 treatises and over 120 core papers, obtained over 20 awards issued by Ministry of Education, Ministry of Water Resources and provincial-level Party and Government departments, and it not only takes the lead in similar research throughout the province but also exerts a great impact all around the country.

Under the leadership of Center Director, Academic Leader, Professor Li Shuidi, the Center focuses on the teaching and scientific research of water culture, and gives particular emphasis on compacting academic orientation, strengthening academic advantages and manifesting academic features, having formed four characteristic orientations at present:

The first is the study on water culture and ideological and political education. Adhere to the combination of water culture with governing culture, highlight the water culture feature of Party construction research in our school; combine water culture with ideological and political education, protrude the features in water conservancy education and talent cultivation of our school; link water culture with cultivating public spirit, stand out the feature in the study on harmonious social development of our school.

The second is the study on water culture and ecological economy. Adhere to the combination of water culture with ecological economy study, manifest the feature in economic ethics study of our school; combine water culture with water resources allocation, show the feature in sustainable development study of our school; link water culture with hydraulic economic research, display the feature in water conservancy economic study of our school.

The third is the study on water culture and ecological civilization. Adhere to the combination of water culture and basin management, highlight the feature of ecological management research of our school; combine water culture with the development strategic of round-Poyang Lake ecological economic zone, show the feature in water culture research in Poyang Lake region of our school; link water culture with environmental ethics, demonstrate the feature in water ethics for the study of ecological ethics and environmental justice of our school.

The fourth is the study on water conservancy scenic area and tourism. Place emphasis on application research, adhere to the combination of water culture with the construction and management of scenic area, highlight the feature in research of water conservancy scenic area of our school; link water culture with tourism management, and manifest the feature in water conservancy tourism research of our school.

Since obtaining the approval, the Center releases tender subjects every year, recruiting talents throughout the province, absorbing scientific research elites of all sectors of society, researching frontier problems in water culture and improving the overall scientific research strength and position of the Center. Meanwhile, regularly hold high-level forum of water culture, and invite national famous experts and scholars in the field of water culture research to give lectures in our school, broad the research vision of the Center and expand the academic influence of the Center. The Center attaches great emphasis on the combination of teaching and scientific research, scientific research serving teaching, establishing general required course — Introduction to Water Culture in NIT, organizing teachers to compile textbook of Introduction to Water Culture, preparing MOOC of Water and Human Civilization—Introductory Water Culture. It has published such treatises as Study on Ganpo Water Culture, Water Culture Education for College Students, and so on; it has also launched the website of Water Culture Research Center, directly serving students and teachers as well as the society, publicizing water culture, conveying water concept and improving the construction level and theoretical height of water ecological civilization. Recently, the Center will also prepare to build Ganpo Water Culture Digital Hall and Farming Culture Exhibition Hall.

As a key research base of humanities and social sciences of higher institutions in Jiangxi Province, Water Culture Research Center not only embodies the school-running features in water conservancy, accelerates the construction of characteristics disciplines and majors as well as talent cultivation, practically implements the agreement on “province and ministry jointly building Nanchang Institute of Technology”, but also exerts an important impact on NIT making full use of school-running features and resources for Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government facilitating national strategy for Poyang Lake ecological economic zone and implementing the reinvigorating strategy for Central Soviet Area in south Jiangxi, propelling the construction and management of national water conservancy scenic areas of the province and better serving local economic society and industry development. (Statistics up to May 2016)