General Situation of the Institute

    The Institute of Curriculum and Instruction of East China Normal University (ECNU) came into existence in November, 1999. It is one of the first group of key research bases in humanities and social science authorized by Ministry of Education, and it’s the only “National Team” in China in the field of curriculum and instruction. It is subjected to ECNU and led directly by the Department of Social Science Research & Ideological and Political Work of Ministry of Education. Professor ZHONG Qiquan, the famous expert on curriculum and instruction, has been working as the director.
    The institute relies on the predominance in educational science research of ECNU and is composed of several research centers and branches. Its members are excellent experts and researchers in the field of curriculum and instruction. The institute has the language advantage, with its members being good at English, German, French, Russian, Japanese and Spanish etc. The institute focuses on research of theories of curriculum and instruction as well as on various subjects such as Chinese, mathematics, English, synthetic science, computer and social studies etc.
    The institute has successively worked on research programs together with more than 20 countries and regions, holding international conferences regularly and keeping academic exchange and cooperative relations with educational institutions of UNESCO and those in Pennsylvania University, Louisiana State University, London University etc.
    According to its quality policy of “exploring and innovating educational theories ceaselessly, serving educational policy-decision with consultation, and participating in education practice and sharing wisdom and knowledge with schools”. It has directly participated in the formulation of various policies and programs of the Chinese school education in recent years, and also carried research projects in the field of school curriculum reform authorized by Ministry of Education. In addition, it has undertaken a great deal of national training programs for curriculum reform. All of these have proved up to the role and status for the Institute to be “National Team” in the study of curriculum and instruction in school education in China.
    The institute has its own experimental schools, and the research fellows often go deep into practice with service of training, consulting and instructing, and help the practicing teachers to summarize their experiences.
    In the next 5 years, the institute aims to be an intelligent base for national policy in curriculum and instruction reform and a guiding center for curriculum reform and development in schools in China, actively participating in the international forum on curriculum and instruction. Going on the premise of “First Class in China”, the institute is striving hard to be the guiding center of research and practice in curriculum and instruction that “keeps ahead in Asia and carries weight in the world”.