Biotechnology (Four-year Program, Academic Discipline Code: 071002)

I. Program in Brief

The Biotechnology Program is developed on the basis of the traditional biology discipline in response to progress in biological sciences, especially the development of biotechnology in the 21^st century. The Program aims to cultivate interdisciplinary talents equipped with basic theories of life sciences and the systematic understanding of basic theories and knowledge of biotechnology as well as basic skills who can engage in research or teaching in research institutions or colleges and universities or professionals who can engage in biotechnology-related application research, technology development, production management and administrative work in businesses, organizations and administrative departments in industry, medicine, food, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, environmental protection and landscape gardening and other industries. The Biotechnology Discipline was founded in 2002 at Wenzhou Medical University, became in 2009 a Key Specialty under Construction in Zhejiang Province and designated an Emerging Featured Specialty in Zhejiang Province in 2014.

II. Training Objectives

According to the needs for developing biological science and technology in China, the Program is aimed at cultivating interdisciplinary talents with a solid foundation, broad knowledge, strong practical ability as well as certain level potentials for scientific research and development who are comprehensively developed in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor aspects that can meet the various needs of the modernization cause in the 21^st century. The students majoring in this Program should have certain-level basic theoretical knowledge of humanities and social sciences and natural sciences and a good command of the basic knowledge, basic theory, and basic skills of biotechnology. They should have scientific thinking and experimental training in applied research basics and technology development to acquire good scientific literacy and preliminary capabilities of teaching, research, development and management. They should be able to engage in scientific research, technology development, teaching and management in biotechnology and related fields by applying the biotechnological theoretical knowledge and skills or engage in the theoretical and basic research in biology-related fields after receiving further training.

III. Training Requirements

(I). Ideological, moral and professional quality requirements

1. Being in love with our socialist motherland, being in support of the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, and having a good command of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory;

2. Having a scientific world outlook, outlook on life and values, the willingness to serve the socialist modernization and the people, the ambition and sense of responsibility to strive for the country’s prosperity and the national rejuvenation, and the sense of struggle for the development of science and technology in China;

3. Having the concept of social justice and fairness and civic awareness, good ideological quality, social ethics and professional ethics;

4. Having high ideological and moral qualities: including correct political orientation, legal and discipline compliance, honesty, a strong sense of team and a sound personality;

5. Having high cultural qualities: having certain amount of basic knowledge of humanities and social sciences, good humanistic accomplishments, international perspectives, modern sense and healthy understanding of interpersonal awareness;

6. Having good professional qualities: having a rigorous training of  scientific thinking, a relatively solid basic understanding of the basic theory and research methods regarding biological science, a concept of comprehensive analysis and cost effectiveness, and the realistic and innovative awareness and spirit;

7. Having good physical and mental qualities: having a healthy body, good psychological quality and lifestyle, the concept of lifelong learning, realistic scientific attitude, critical thinking and innovative spirit, and the constant pursuit of excellence.

(II) .Knowledge Requirements

The Program aims to cultivate and train applied research or technical talents required to have the following knowledge:

1. Instrumental knowledge: proficiency in using foreign language (s) in reading professional journals and literature search, preliminary abilities of using foreign language (s) for communication and scientific writing and strong computer operating skills;

2. Humanities and social sciences knowledge: general knowledge of literature, history, philosophy, bioethics, morality, politics, art, law, psychology, etc.;

3. Natural sciences knowledge: good knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, etc.

4. Engineering and technical knowledge: basic-level knowledge of biological engineering principles and other aspects;

5. Biology expertise/specialized knowledge: having a good command of the basic theories and knowledge of biological sciences and biotechnology, including knowledge relating to:

(1) Chemical and molecular basis of life

(2) Cell structure, function and major life activities

(3) Structure and function of living organisms and biodiversity

(4) Microbial characteristics and metabolism

(5) Biological genetics and evolution

(6) Biology and environment

(7) Principles and applications of biotechnology

(III.) Skill Requirements

1. Having good self-learning habits and abilities, a good command of literature retrieval and the ability to use modern technology to obtain relevant information, and certain-level computer and information technology application ability;

2. Having a good command of the applied biotechnology experimental and operational skills, having good scientific literacy and ability for scientific research and practice, the ability to initially analyze and solve problems in the application, development and management of biotechnology;

3. Ability of knowledge application: having the ability for the preliminary comprehensive utilization of theoretical knowledge and skills to engage in the product development in biotechnology and related areas;

4. Innovation and entrepreneurship: having strong capabilities to think creatively, to carry out innovative experiments and science and technology development;

(1) Innovative ability: having the ability to put forth original and innovative ideas for solving practical problems and providing solutions by using engineering knowledge, methods and abilities;

(2) Entrepreneurial ability: having the ability to promote the integrated realization of personal value, enterprise value and social value with realizing the biotechnology-related post value as the carrier by bringing professional expertise and entrepreneurial spirit into full play in the context of the post and its environment as the entrepreneurial space, or the ability to launch start-up businesses by relying on the professional expertise of biotechnology;

5. Lifelong learning ability: having the self-learning and lifelong education ability of updating and improving one’s own knowledge, ability and quality to maintain and enhance competitiveness to meet the needs of individual career and all-around development.

6. Cooperation and communication skills

(1) Teamwork ability: having a good sense of team and teamwork, being fully aware of the importance of the team for the profession, having the ability to actively and effectively carry out the work within the framework of the team, having good teamwork, communication and coordination skills;

(2) Interpersonal communication and exchange skills: having the basic skills and ability of communication and exchange, good verbal and written expression ability, the ability to effectively express one’s own thoughts and wishes, and the ability to quickly adapt to changing working environment and interpersonal environment;

(3) International exchange and cooperation ability: having the basic ability of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating in a foreign language, a good command of the ability of reading foreign language books, journals and other technical materials in the field of network engineering, and have international communication, and the ability of international exchange, communication and cooperation with others in the technical and working contexts;

(4) Ability to obtain information: having the ability to acquire information through multiple channels in an informational social environment, the ability to track the latest technological trends in the field and the ability to collect, analyze, judge, summarize and select relevant technical information at home and abroad.

IV. Major Discipline/Core Curriculum

(I) Major Discipline:

Biology/Medicine/Agronomy

(II) Core Curriculum:

 Biochemistry, General Cell Biology, Genetics, Microbiology, Immunology, Molecular Biology, Genetic Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, Microbial Engineering, and Cell Engineering.