After university competition, provincial semi-finals, and provincial finals, the following faculty members from Liaoning University won awards in the 2025 Fifth Provincial University Faculty Teaching Innovation Competition in Liaoning Province. Professor Guo Lingling from School of Philosophy won the first prize in New Liberal Arts (Senior Professor Category); Professor Qiu Ying from School of International Economics and International Relations in Curriculum Ideological and Political Education (Senior Professor Category); Professor Fu Lin from School of Life Sciences in Fundamental Courses (Associate Professor Category). And Professor Gao Ning and Professor Zhu Hairong from Law School won the second prize in New Liberal Arts (Senior Professor Category) and Curriculum Ideological and Political Education (Lecturer and Below Category). And Professor Xu Xu from College of Chemistry was the Excellent Award winner in New Engineering (Senior Professor Category). Notably, Liaoning University achieved its historical record in first prize winners in this competition over the past three years.

The university competition commenced in September of last year. Focusing on the theme of building a high-quality education system, Liaoning University organized a series of activities for the inaugural Liaoning University Faculty Teaching Innovation Competition. These initiatives included two specialized training sessions for the competition, two Faculty Teaching Innovation Workshop activities, three online preparatory coaching sessions for teachers recommended to the provincial competition, nine offline dress rehearsals and refinements before the competition. These efforts effectively enhanced faculty teaching capabilities, provided strong support for higher education teaching reform and curriculum ideological and political development, and showcased Liaoning University’s proactive efforts and significant achievements in educational and teaching innovation.

It is noted that the National College Faculty Teaching Innovation Competition, guided by the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and hosted by the China Association of Higher Education, has become one of China’s highest-level platforms for showcasing pedagogical innovation since its inception in 2020. It stands as a critical benchmark for evaluating teaching excellence in higher education. The outstanding achievements in this competition reflect not only individual honors for the participating faculty, but also tangible outcomes of the university’s sustained efforts to deepen educational reform and build a high-quality faculty development system. Moving forward, Liaoning University will leverage the breakthrough to harness award-winning faculty leadership, focus on “Four New ” Initiatives, actively undertake innovative teaching practices, prioritize holistic development of students to enhance the culture of teaching innovation, develop more high-impact innovation teams and propel the institution’s educational quality to new heights.

Introduction to the Award-Winning Teachers

Guo Lingling is a professor and Vice Dean, School of Philosophy of Liaoning University, a distinguished teacher in curriculum ideologg and politics and a distinguished undergraduate teacher. With decades of dedication to pedagogical innovation, professor Guo has achieved remarkable milestones, including provincial first-class offline undergraduate course, provincial-level model course in curriculum ideology and politics, the second prize for teaching achievement award, and first prize in Liaoning Provincial Teaching Innovation Competition.

Qiu Ying is a professor from School of International Economics and International Relations of Liaoning University. She has presided over a national first-class online and offline hybrid course and awarded the second prize in the Curriculum-based Ideological and Political Education category (Associate Professor Group) at the National Teaching Innovation Competition and the grand prize and first prize at the Provincial Teaching Innovation Competition. And she assumed the supervisor of teams winning the National First Prize in the “Challenge Cup” Competition. Besides, she has presided over the development of one Provincial-level Online Open Quality Course and participated in the development of 5 Provincial-level “Golden Courses”. In additional, she presided over over a dozen research projects, including grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and received four Provincial/Ministerial Level Awards.

Fu Lin is an associate professor of the School of Life Sciences, tutor of master students, director of Liaoning Plant Pathology Society. She has won one national first-class undergraduate course, the second prize of Liaoning Teaching Achievement Award in 2022, the second prize of Liaoning University Faculty Teaching Innovation Competition in 2024 and the first prize of Liaoning University Faculty Teaching Innovation Competition in 2025.

Gao Ning is a PhD in law, professor, Vice President of Law School of Liaoning University. She was awarded the title of “Famous Undergraduate Teaching Teacher”, “Most Beautiful Teacher” and “Xingshen Talents Program” in Liaoning Province. As a full-time teacher to guide law school students, she won the first prize of ICC Chinese Competition for seven consecutive years from 2018 to 2025, won the third place in the Grand Slam and won the third place in The Hague, the Netherlands; won the first prize and the second prize seven times in ICC English Competition in China.

Zhu Hairong is a PhD, a lecturer from Law School of Liaoning University, Director of Liaoning Civil Law Society. She teaches courses such as General Introduction of Civil Law, Contract Law, Property Law and civil mock trial training. In 2024, she participated in the case project of the Degree and Postgraduate Education Development Center of the Ministry of Education, and won the second prize of the fifth Liaoning Teaching Innovation Competition; hosted the school-level postgraduate teaching reform project, and the ideological and political project of the school-level undergraduate teaching course. Instructor of “Li Lv Cup” mock trial Competition in National Colleges and Universities.

Xu Xu is a professor from School of Chemistry and a PhD Supervisor. Her course Analytical Chemistry and laboratory courses were awarded the titles of Liaoning Province First-Class Undergraduate Course and Model Course in Ideological and Political Education. She has presided over multiple projects, including the Ministry of Education’s Industry-Academia Collaboration Initiative and provincial-level teaching reform projects. She was awarded the First Prize of Liaoning Province Teaching Achievement Award (ranked 2nd). She has supervised students in winning awards at national and provincial-level Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Programs, as well as competitions such as the “Internet Plus” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition.