From November 4 to 8, 2025, a delegation of teachers and students from the Faculty of Education, East China Normal University (ECNU), visited Korea University in South Korea again, successfully carrying out a 5-day in-depth exchange during the international academic week. Hosted by the Faculty of Education and organized by the Department of Educational Psychology, the academic week was themed Psychological Challenges of Adolescent Learners: Issues and Interventions. The ECNU delegation gained substantial insights and returned with fruitful achievements through ideological collisions and cultural integration.

01 Academic Frontiers – Engaging in International Dialogues on Motivation Science

Career Guidance Session

On November 5, teachers and students of the delegation attended a dedicated graduate guidance seminar. ECNU students sat together with master’s and doctoral candidates from Korea University, conducting in-depth exchanges with several keynote professors and local young scholars on topics such as research topic selection, academic career planning, and international journal publication. The valuable experiences and sincere advice shared by the professors illuminated the path for students’ academic exploration and ignited their academic enthusiasm and intrinsic motivation.

Poster Session

During the exciting poster presentation segment, ECNU students actively raised questions and engaged in lively discussions with young researchers from around the world on various issues and cutting-edge topics in the field of motivation. This was not only an opportunity to learn research methods but also a chance to build an international academic network, inspiring students to pursue their own research with a broader perspective.

Thematic Lecture Session

In the three keynote lectures of this academic week, three world-renowned professors presented the latest advances in motivation science from different dimensions:

• Professor Yeager systematically expounded on the evolution from a "growth mindset" to a "mentor mindset", revealing the potential for large-scale application of brief psychological interventions in education systems.

• Professor Putwain conducted an in-depth analysis of the concept of "academic buoyancy" under exam stress, demonstrating the practical pathways through which educational research influences policy formulation.

• Professor Senko used the "goal complex" theory to profoundly reveal the complexity of motivation behind goals and their in-depth impact on the learning process.

While each lecture had its own focus, they also corroborated one another, collectively depicting a complete picture of motivation research—from theoretical construction to practical intervention, and from individual cognition to systemic influence—delivering a feast of ideas for the teachers and students present.

In the Q&A session following the thematic lectures, students, inspired by the talks and armed with accumulated questions, engaged in in-depth dialogues with international scholars that transcended cultural and academic generational boundaries. Through direct interactions with top international scholars, they not only resolved research puzzles but also truly experienced the core spirit of equality and openness within the academic community, sowing the seeds of "daring to ask questions, knowing how to think, and being able to innovate" in their minds.

02 Reflections from Teachers and Students – Growing Through Cross-Cultural Immersion

Campus Visit

Outside of academic activities, the delegation wandered around Korea University’s beautiful campus, which is built against a mountain, and successively visited the world-renowned Brain and Motivation Research Institute, a modern library, and the university history museum that bears witness to a century of development. Through the well-designed research spaces and elegant historical buildings, students not only felt the academic atmosphere of this top research university but also gained a deeper understanding of how the integration of academic traditions and innovative spirit shapes a university’s unique character.

Exchange Summary

To enable more teachers and students to learn about the content and outcomes of the international academic week, a summary and exchange meeting for the Korea University Academic Week was successfully held in Room 1014 of the Tin Ka Ping College of Education on the afternoon of November 19. Hosted by the Faculty of Education and organized by the Department of Educational Psychology, the meeting featured sharing and exchanges from the delegation that participated in the Korea University Academic Week. Over a dozen attendees were present, including Ms. Qiu Yue, Director of the International Affairs Office of the Faculty of Education; Associate Professor Ma Shufeng and Associate Professor Ren Huiguang from the delegation; and students from various departments and institutes of the faculty.

Under the chairmanship of Ms. Ma Shufeng, teachers and students of the department first shared their gains and reflections from the academic week from the perspectives of academic exchange, cultural observation, and life experience. The teachers fully affirmed the value of the academic exchange week, the gains and growth it brought to students, and highly praised the cultural and academic confidence demonstrated by the delegation’s students during the exchange, reflecting the strong academic capabilities and comprehensive literacy of ECNU’s education students.During the sharing session:

• Liang Simin, a master’s student of the 2024 cohort, mentioned that "Professor Putwain, with a rigorous attitude, did not immediately answer the question I raised, but sought me out after the lecture to provide a very thorough and comprehensive response."

• Associate Professor Ren Huiguang noted that "from a teacher’s perspective, different from the students, I gained more insights into how to better organize academic activities that bring tangible benefits to students."

The active sharing by teachers and students promoted the elevation from cultural experience to academic awareness, showcasing the delegation’s abundant gains.

Finally, after listening carefully to the in-depth and insightful sharing from students, Ms. Qiu Yue from the Faculty of Education delivered a summary of the academic week. She fully affirmed the value and effectiveness of this exchange, pointing out that the growth and reflection demonstrated by students are exactly the original intention behind the faculty’s promotion of the international academic week program: to effectively transform the faculty’s profound research resources and disciplinary advantages into education advantages, providing more opportunities for students to expand their academic horizons and enhance cultural understanding; at the same time, it has created an important opportunity for the Faculty of Education to develop in-depth, multi-dimensional cooperation with top international universities.

Speeches by Teachers and Students of Our Department