On Sep. 26 -27, 2009, a training course for supervisors of research students in GUCAS was held at the Institute of Biophysics. About 90 supervisors from different institutes within CAS attended. The course was sponsored by GUCAS and hosted by IBP, CAS. The goal was to strengthen the team of GUCAS supervisors and to enhance their ability to train graduate students.

Prof. Xingke Yang, chairman of the Board of IBP, gave a welcome speech at the start of the course. He spoke about the current situation and strategies for improving graduate student education within IBP. In the following two days, Prof. Weimin Gong and Prof. Rongqiao He, both Deputy Directors of IBP, presided over the training course. Many experts in the field of education were invited to speak on special topics, covering the development of graduate education and educational policies in China, the rules and regulations of GUCAS, the experiences of successful supervisors and problems that exist in graduate recruitment. Group discussions were held so that participants could take an active part in the training course. Provision of further training for supervisors and greater communication between supervisors were consistently raised as two of the most important issues. The Director of the postgraduate training office at GUCAS, Jinlian Zhang, gave certificates to each participant at the end of the course.

This training course gave the participants an opportunity to share experiences and gain a broader perspective which will be of great benefit in their work of training graduate students.