Present
Currently Liaoning Normal University remains the provincial centre for teacher training in Liaoning. The university comprises 10 colleges, divided into 25 departments, offering 39 programmes for those studying for a bachelor's degree, 36 for those studying for a master's degree and 2 for doctoral candidates.
The Chinese government's recent move away from the shifan system had brought significant changes to the university. With more and more teachers are being recruited from regular universities, Liaoning Normal University (as with most normal universities) has expanded to offer a number of non-education-specific courses and to increase its focus on research. The university now boasts, amongst others, a Ministry of Education sponsored Research Institute of Basic Education, an Ocean Economics and Sustainable Development Center and a center for researching the works of Sun Zi. Research originating from the university has resulted in 74 Science and Technology Progress Awards, 18 patents, and 190 contracts for technology or service transfer.
The move away from a narrow focus on education teaching has also resulted in an increased emphasis on business related subjects, in part through a partnership with Missouri State University who maintain a branch campus within the university's main campus. Another avenue the university has pursued is language teaching and testing, both foreign languages for Chinese students (the university hosts both an International Japanese Language Testing Center and an IELTS Testing Center, and established a course training provincial government officials wishing to study at the University of Ulster) and the teaching of Chinese to overseas students (currently 338 students are enrolled on Chinese language courses).
Education remains, however, the main focus of the university, with a large education department and the maintenance of an affiliated high school for the purposes of teacher practice. This focus is reflected in the university's stated aim of its 10 year plan which is " to become the province's largest center for teacher education and serve as a role model for other schools "
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