As the pace of development in the AI artificial intelligence era continues to accelerate, the reform of the traditional English teaching model in colleges and universities has long been put on the agenda. Some leading universities have even taken a bold step to adjust the original compulsory college English course setting.Recently, Zhao Wei, provost of Shenzhen University of Technology and former president of the University of Macau, publicly released relevant education reform information. After students apply for admission to Shenzhen University of Technology in 2026, the school will open a new experimental class, gradually cancel the original compulsory college English courses, and replace them with new cross-cultural communication specialty courses.
Zhao Wei said that in traditional English courses, there are a lot of knowledge points that require rote memorization. Nowadays, with the help of artificial intelligence tools, quick query and automatic translation can be easily realized. However, the ability of in-depth cross-cultural communication between people and the perspective of dealing with people are core qualities that AI can never teach students.
The core goal of this new set of cross-cultural communication courses has long since departed from the logic of simply teaching language knowledge points in the past, and instead puts the first priority on cultivating students' sense of structure, sense of social propriety, and ability to deal with the world. The curriculum system will simultaneously delve into the core characteristics of Eastern culture and Western culture, and guide every Chinese student to find his or her own position in the foreign exchange scene.
Ultimately, students should be able to truly communicate with foreigners from different cultural backgrounds without being humble or overbearing. They should neither deliberately lower their posture, nod or bow down to please the other party, nor be arrogant or rude and forceful in their confrontation. They should complete all types of communication in a well-founded, calm and appropriate manner throughout the process.
This innovation in foreign language education is not an isolated case of Shenzhen University of Technology. Many domestic universities have already started optimizing and adjusting the university foreign language education system.
For example, the notice on the revision of the relevant undergraduate talent training program issued by the Academic Affairs Office of Zhejiang Normal University in May 2026 clearly states that the credits of the university's foreign language courses will be adjusted from the original 8 credits to 6 credits, and a hierarchical and graded flexible teaching model will be fully implemented in the future.
The essence of this round of college English reform is actually a rational return to the attributes of language education. The ultimate goal of learning a language is never to cope with various paper exams, but to help young people open up their global horizons and truly see the world with different cultural backgrounds as equals.
