The USST Culture Development Committee is responsible for guiding and promoting the construction of USST’s Outstanding Engineering Culture, fostering and forging culture brands, implementing the special funds of culture construction, taking active steps and policy orientation to ensure the smooth advancement of various cultural activities and programs.

1. The Committee strives to forge the culture brand of “Outstanding Engineering” in the spirit of openness, cooperation and sharing.

The first measure is to carry out the education of Party history and the culture of clean governance, to incorporate the study of Party history into educational training and ideological curriculum, to publicize Party history with such effective approaches as literature and art, films, TVs and theatres, special lectures and knowledge contests. The brand of USST Campus Clean Governance Publicity Month is strengthened through education and learning, knowledge competition and artistic creation in order to foster the campus clean governance cultural atmosphere characterized by “learning from incorruption, thinking about incorruption, advocating incorruption and upholding incorruption”.

The second measure is to educate USST students with the university motto and university history. The Committee has traced and summarized the particular educational tradition, spiritual aspiration, philosophy, institutions and humanistic allusions and anecdotes of USST, launched the development and research of university-centered cultural courses, published and propagated the “living textbooks” of university-centered culture, compiled the book series on History of USST Engineering Education and Interviews of USST Eminent Persons in Engineering, and incorporated USST university-centered courses into the system of USST student comprehensive quality curriculum. The master play Liu Zhan’en, modelled on “the first Chinese university president” Doctor Liu Zhan’en, went on tour for three times at the Shanghai Drama Art Center, the Magnolia Theatre and Shanghai Theatre Academy, attracting about 3000 audiences to watch the live performance. The Committee also uses the university motto to convey the socialist core values, propagates the stories related to the motto and promotes the spirit of the motto, so that the publicity and education of the motto are incorporated into students’ first lesson and last lesson in college, the citizen moral lessons, educating them to carry forward the patriotic spirit, the national spirit, the scientific spirit and the zeitgeist.

The third measure is to carry out liberal education that combines science with art. A series of documentary films, stage plays, arts exhibitions centered on the theme of “great buildings and great masters”, present the university history and celebrities in artistic forms to propagate and promote the spirits of science and the ethics of engineering. Various lectures such as “poetry conference in music”, arts exhibitions and concerts are held with the support of the Department of Music and the Department of Fine Arts.

The fourth measure is to implement cultural education through Convergence Media. A close connection is established between the campus newspaper, university website, Microblog, Wechat and mobile client to form the “USST Kitchen” Convergence Media framework. Backbone students are selected to build a volunteer army of on-line opinion guidance, respond to social hotspots and complaints of students and faculty, discuss on-line issues on a regular basis, write on-line comments in an attempt to tell good USST stories, propagate positive energy, pay close attention to on-line public opinion, boost the harmony and stability of the campus and contribute to the purification of the environment of on-line opinion in the campus. The Committee is also active in organizing and participating in the competition of on-line comments, guiding the students to keep up with current issues, observe the society and express their opinion rationally. “USST Research Center on Cyber Culture” is chosen as the pilot program of cyber culture research for universities in Shanghai under the leadership of the Publicity Department of the Party Committee of Shanghai Education and Health Committee.

2. The Committee is also dedicated to promoting the humanistic quality of USST students and the prosperity of association culture. Liberal education courses on humanistic quality specifically is set in the undergraduate program, according to which，the students are required to complete 4 credits of humanistic quality courses. At present, the university has set up 7 modules, 484 in total, of humanistic quality courses, centered on innovation and starting-up, engineering, economics and management, music, fine arts, humanities, Chinese language and literature. The university administration has further regulated the examination and approval, and the open registration of seminars, workshops, lectures and forums on philosophy and social sciences in an attempt to strengthen ideological management. The total number of reports on philosophy and social sciences held in USST adds up to nearly 100 each year. In addition, various secondary sectors, according to their own features, have held all types of lectures on humanities and social sciences, among which, the “Hujiang Platform” of Graduate Student Affairs Office, the “Lecture Room” of the Academic College and the “USST Alumni Forum” of USST Alumni Association have come to be renowned brands of USST campus culture. USST student associations, numbered 131, with registered members totaled around 10,000, cover six following categories: culture & arts, sports & fitness, public service and practice, academy & technology, theoretical study and social sciences, launch over 1000 association activities each year, providing USST students with a broad arena to show off their talents. The League of Associations would hold star association competitions, association cultural festivals and association carnivals on a regular basis, demonstrating the glamor of various associations to the whole university. USST OM Creativity Alliance, the first student OM association nationwide that runs through the stages of basic and higher education, won the championship of International OM Finals in recent years. USST Karate Association defends two championship titles in National Karate Tournament for University Students.