(Correspondent: Li Xiaofeng, Wang Huhong) Wuhan University’s first Undergraduate Outstanding Teaching Performance Award went to over 150 teachers, each receiving 30,000 yuan.

     The award is to reward the excellent performance of the outstanding teachers in the front line of undergraduate teaching (including graduate basic course). For the faculty undertaking undergraduate teaching tasks, the school divided them into four categories for application and evaluation for the award, i.e. Public Basic Theory Courses, General Courses, Professional Theory Courses and Experiment & Practice Courses. Applicants are required to have good professional ethics, qualified teaching practice, and commitment to practical teaching work.

     The election had arouse heated response among teachers and students. The voting website attracted over 10,000 hits on the first day alone and 300,000 clicks within 7 days. Teachers and students both considered it a good way to encourage teachers to dedicate themselves to teaching, create first-class teaching culture, and improve the quality of undergraduate teaching. They hoped that such activities could continue.

     Such award will be organized annually with less than 200 applicants and 30,000 yuan for each winner each time. In order to improve the teacher's teaching assessment, strengthen their teaching responsibility and encourage their devotion in teaching, the school has introduced the Guidelines on the Implementation of the Teacher’s Teaching Assessment and Performance Incentives. In the year-end performance awards, the school earmarked more funds to recipients of the Outstanding Teaching Contribution Award, Young Teacher Teaching Competition Award and Teaching Achievement Award. To reward the instructors who guide students in disciplinary competitions and the winners of teaching competitions, the school also added the Professional Competition Guiding Award and the Professional Teaching Competition Award.

     This is one of the important initiatives our school has adopted in undergraduate education reform. Aiming to radically change the teachers’ professional ethics and conduct and learning atmosphere for the better, the school spares no effort in creating sound educational culture in which teachers enjoy teaching and students enjoy studying by seeking new impetus through providing incentives to both teaching and learning.

     Wuhan University has always attached great importance to undergraduate teaching, said Vice President Zhou Yezhong, and the idea of " talent cultivation and undergraduate education as the foundation" has been deeply rooted. In recent years, the school has taken a series of effective measures to promote undergraduate teaching. In 2015, payment for the public basic courses generally rose by 30%. Teachers who guide students in important award-winning professional competitions were given exceptional promotion. "Young Teachers Association" was established to facilitate exchanges of teaching experience among teachers and to enhance the training and support for young faculty’s teaching development. The university also increased the coverage of and rewards for the Teaching Performance Award; attached more importance to the  teaching assessment in the annual teaching assessment and title promotion; set up the evaluation criteria and standard for teaching professors and vice professors; employed Luojia visiting professors, young teaching scholar and so on. All these policies and measures have injected great impetus to teachers' teaching performance.