“ National Demonstration Center for Experimental Aquatic Science and Technology Education" of Jimei University is formerly known as the "Educational Center of Aquatic Science and Experimental Technology". It was awarded as Fujian Province Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of Higher Education in 2008. In 2013, it received the project of the "12th Five-Year Plan" Experimental Education Demonstration Center in Fujian Province. In 2015, it was selected as the national construction site of experimental Education demonstration center, which was administrated at both school and college levels.
As an essential platform for aquatic professionals to develop skills and improve professional accomplishment, the demonstration center has been committed to training innovative talents of excellence with three features. The first feature is to construct a composite application-oriented training and experimental teaching system. The second feature is to contain unique regional and disciplinary characteristics. Lastly, our experimental education has strong support for disciplinary and scientific research.
The center has a laboratory area of 10,841.10 square meters, including platforms for fundamental experimental teaching, professional experimental teaching, extracurricular science, technology innovation for students, scientific research, etc. There are 12 functional public laboratories (including 2 digital interactive microscopic observation laboratories), 6 experimental preparation rooms, 4 instrument rooms, 2 specimen rooms, 1 ecological laboratory, 1 laboratory animal room, 1 hazardous chemical management room, and other conventional laboratories. The center has professional laboratories of various disciplines, a large instrument sharing platform, natural science museum, aquatic trail fields, ornamental aquarium platforms, etc. The center has 4981 sets of various experimental instruments and equipment, with a total value of 93,410,000 yuan. The center undertakes the educational tasks of 4 majors, 22 practicing courses, and 256 experimental projects in the College of Aquatic Sciences. It also provides excellent experimental conditions for undergraduates and graduate students to conduct activities such as discipline competition, scientific and technological innovation, and graduation thesis.
The center constantly enhances the structure of the faculty, with 86 full-time teachers and 16 laboratory technicians, including 33 professors and 41 associate professors; 12 doctoral supervisors, 78 teachers with doctoral degrees, 49 teachers under 45 years old; 38 returned faculty from abroad, 18 part-time professors, and more than 50 professionals at all levels, including 2 Professors specially appointed as Minjiang Scholars, 3 experts entitled to the State Council Government Special Allowance, 1 national advanced practitioner, 1 national hundred million talents program, 2 young and middle-aged experts with outstanding contribution from the Ministry of Agriculture, 4 scientists of national modern agricultural industrial technology system, 6 Fujian hundred million talents program, 1 outstanding scientific and technological talents in Fujian Province, 1 Fujian Youth Science and Technology Award, 1 Fujian Youth "May Fourth" Medallist, 1 Fujian Youth 1 "May Fourth" Medalist of Fujian Province, 2 "May Day" Labor Medalist of Fujian Province, 10 "New Century Excellent Talents Support Program for Higher Education in Fujian Province", 7 "Outstanding Young Research Talents Training Program for Higher Education in Fujian Province", 3 "Xiamen City Distinguished Talents", 3 "May Day" Labor Medalist of Xiamen City ". The excellent teaching faculty provides a guarantee for the development of innovative talents.
In the past five years, the center has conducted more than 220 research projects at all levels, including the National Key Research and Development Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and provincial and ministerial level, and published 510 academic papers in many academic journals at home and abroad, including 270 articles indexed by SCI, EI, ISTP. During the period of the 12th and 13th Five-Year Plan, we received 22 national, provincial, and municipal science and technology progress awards and 72 national invention patents. Our faculty edited and co-edited more than 20 textbooks, cultivated "Min You No.1 "Min You No. 1", "Min Feng No. 1", "Jin Yu No. 1" and "Min Feng No. 2", and hosted 4 domestic academic conferences and 7 national competitions.
The center supports students to participate in various hands-on activities, including undergraduate innovation and entrepreneurship training programs, extracurricular science and technology innovation programs for undergraduates, etc. Each year, the center organizes anatomy (aquatic) skills competition, aquarium landscape design competition, taxidermy competition, etc. Students have achieved remarkable results in the "Challenge Cup" of China Student Entrepreneurship Planning Competition, the International "Internet+" Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Competition, National Student Aquascaping Skills Competition, National Student Aquatic Skills Competition, National Student English Competition, and Summer Social Practice for Students, etc. Students have achieved outstanding results and won many national and provincial awards ( golden award ), the first prize ( silver award ), etc. The graduates were well appraised by the public and employers.
Both the software and hardware conditions of the center have significantly improved under the generous support and focused establishment of the Ministry of Education, Fujian Province, Xiamen City, and the university, as well as the unremitting efforts of all faculty members of the center. The quality of practice-based education has notably improved, providing a high-level platform for training innovative talents in high-quality applied aquaculture. The center has achieved positive demonstration effects in establishing a stronger marine province and the economic zone on the west coast of the Taiwan Strait.
