As Beijing welcomed its beautiful golden autumn with the fragrance of sweet osmanthus in the air, the Department of Urban and Rural Planning (DURP) celebrated its 20th anniversary and held a teaching seminar on urban and rural planning in the afternoon of September 21.

Prof. Xu Chengshun, Dean of the FACTE and Prof. Zhang Jianwei, Deputy Dean, addressed the meeting respectively. Dean Xu spoke highly of the fruitful achievements DURP has made over the past 20 years in the fields of discipline development, expertise development, talent education, scientific research, etc. With the major of urban and rural planning having been approved as a national first-class major, the faculty needs to seize every opportunity, inherit good traditions, focus on reform and innovation, promote discipline development, nurture top-notch talent, drive the quality development of the major of urban and rural planning, and thus lay a solid foundation to better serve the development of Beijing and China.

Prof. Zhao Zhifeng, Chair of DURP, other heads of the Department and leading professors gave speeches to recall the development of DURP since its establishment in 2002, and expressed their heartfelt congratulations to DURP for being approved in 2022 to develop this national first-class major and achieving leapfrog development. Lv Pan, as the representative of graduates, who now works at China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, expressed his gratitude to his alma mater and to offer his best wishes to DURP.

Focusing on the teaching system and the curriculum development, the seminar invited more than 10 teachers from four curriculum groups of DURP to deliver keynote speeches, share their experience on how to reform teaching under the curriculum, exchange their insights on their commitment to education, and have an engaging discussion on education.