Professor Zhu Xinrong: Fulfillment of her duty as a teacher

Professor Zhu Xinrong in the School of Finance was honored to be an Advanced Individual of Teachers’ Professional Ethics of Hubei in 2016 before Teachers’ Day, another important award after the first “Teaching Excellence Award in Finance” of Hongru Financial Education Foundation in Beijing in 2015 and the honorable title of “Famous Teachers in Hubei Province” in 2012. She has always taken “responsibility, mission and obligation” as the criterion, performed the full duty of teachers and interpreted “the most brilliant career under the sun” through perseverance and practical action regardless of the difficulties over the past 30 years since 1985.

A Model in Education Field

Zhu Xinrong began her study in Hubei Institute of Finance and Economics (the predecessor of ZUEL) in the autumn of 1979 to pursue her dream of becoming a financier. However, she was asked to work as a teacher in the university after completing her 6 years’ study for a master degree in economics. Faced with the conflicts between the reality and dream, she resolutely chose to submit to the organization. Teaching is a sacred and noble profession, in her eyes, “My supervisor serves as a lighthouse on the boundless sea setting the direction for me in the course of my education.” I could deeply feel the care and painstaking training in my study life and was determined to be a good teacher “to set the direction for others” just like my supervisor. From the foot of SnakeMountain to the bank of SouthLake, many group of excellent graduates in finance of ZUEL and many young talents from all over the country teaching in School of Finance of ZUEL witnessed her noble virtues of giving directions to her students and contributions to education.

Professor Zhu Xinrong was always working-hard in the eyes of students. Anyone who met her would never forget her warm smile and encouraging eyes; anyone who talked with her would forever remember her astute judgment of questions and insight into situations; anyone who listened to her lectures would never forget her persistent pursuit for truth and patient guidance for students; anyone could have a lot of fun and benefits while communicating with her. She never forgets her duty as a teacher to enlighten students through words, broaden their horizons and help to open a door leading to a new ground of finance with her wisdom and experience.

Professor Zhu Xinrong, excellent and wise while humble and simple in the eyes of her colleagues, always has a prodigious memory no matter how busy she is: She can remember research interest and direction of every colleague even the articles published in recent periodicals; she points out the possible research defects and feasible ways of further study by virtue of her profound academics accumulated; she offers advice for young teachers on how to control the classes and stand out in teaching; she can clearly remember the changes of every course in the training programs for undergraduates, postgraduates and PhD students and guide the young teachers to develop top-quality courses; she can even remember the names of her colleagues’ families and send her thoughtfulness which is just like a bowl of warm “chicken soup for the soul ” in the winter.

She is not only an academic supervisor but also a life mentor in the eyes of students. She enjoys the “reunion dinner” with her students apart from the regular communication with them during every Spring festival over the past 25 years. Every time when chatting with her friends and former students, she always asks “are there any jobs offered in your unit? I can recommend several excellent graduates for you.” She always tries to recommend posts for her students and sincerely help them to address problems. “My students are my hope. The graduates of the School  of Finance are engaged in politics, business or academic studies. I am worthy of making efforts at the thought of their contributions for the country in respective posts”. She often jokes that her mailbox is bursting with letters of students every holiday. She is often called by her students: my most distinguished teacher, my dearest teacher, you are my most respected teacher forever......

Indifference to Fame and Fortune, Dedication to Teaching 

“I never regret working as a teacher. Teaching is bittersweet. I have a sense of self-achievement after lighting others by consuming myself just like a candle.”

Professor Zhu Xinrong earned acclaim in the university, on the Internet and from those who she knows or not, both inside and outside the campus. A popular expression nowadays is that many of her students are also her “followers”. Her lectures are instructive, easy-to-understand, thought-provoking, enlightening with profound and vivid language, which is quite famous in the financial world. As described by her students that her lectures are like “sweet dew of knowledge wells up in our mind juts like the flowing water”. Many students from other universities listen to her lectures through online video to feel the heroine’s charm in the financial education. Li Xinyuan, a student in the School of Accounting of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, recalled, “I got an opportunity to watch a video course called The Economics of Money in ZUEL and can still remember her analysis on the deterioration of economic structures until now.”

Proficient teaching of Professor Zhu Xinrong stems from her wide professional knowledge, which is attributed to her in-depth academic research and her belief that “teachers should help students to gain access to advanced theories by offering them the latest academic information”. She believes that a teacher should have enough knowledge in his brain before teaching students. Only in this way can the teaching goes smoothly. She advocates the learning methods called “3A”(Anytime、Anywhere、Anyhow) which requires teachers to absorb internal and external new knowledge of finance, have thorough understanding of what they teach, constantly update and improve their knowledge system and timely apply new knowledge to the teaching next day. She has been in the habit of doing all mentioned above. All new knowledge in her mind will automatically be connected to all existing knowledge system. The abstract and boring theory can become vivid and true-to-life owning to her digestion of all information and quotation from related materials. She sticks to the financial talents training models of “broad caliber, solid foundation, application-oriented, compatibility and openness” and emphasizes the principle of “giving a man a fish and he ends for a day”. In her eyes, a specific knowledge given to students just functions as “fish”, but their learning abilities and methods of analyzing and solving problems with all courses and financial phenomenon functions as “fishing”. She gives priority to the research on methodology. “Only by grasping correct methodology can we do well in the specific study in financial market and institutions.” she often says, “knowledge is used to nourish the reality”. Therefore, she constantly updates teaching materials and enriches teaching content based on the development of disciplines, financial reform and problems in the market. The students who were first in her classes felt so surprised: how can this teacher who is no longer young knows so many “buzzwords”! Students particularly respect and love her because “the lectures of Mrs. Zhu are very vivid and easy to understand”!

The warmhearted female professor is fond of communicating and discussing with students in private. She often irregularly asks students questions about the current hot spot issues, checks their thinking patterns in study and intends to train their speech abilities and writing styles, etc. And students also ask her questions, learn the methods of analysis and thinking and supplement the opinions and statements of the teacher. She will conduct research on a new subject with her students. The informal collision of ideas can not only inspire their enthusiasm of learning but also lay solid foundation for their research.

“A man of true worth attracts admiration. ” Professor Zhu Xinrong has adhered to the principle of careful teaching, dedication to education and noble morality for over 30 years, which are encouraging a growing number of young teachers to work hard and make selfless contributions to cultivating talents of socialist construction. This kind of quality will be definitely handed down in the long history of ZUEL.