The third batch of courses selected as the Honors Courses for General Education of Tsinghua University were announced following the first meeting of the General Education Committee for the 2021-2022 academic year. Selected among this batch of Honors Courses is a course in management taught by ZHANG Chen, associate professor in the Department of Leadership and Organization Management, Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM). Her course that has been selected is "Management as a Perspective: Systematic Thinking and Effective Actions".

ZHANG's course is open to undergraduate students in all Tsinghua University's departments and majors. The course guides students to observe, analyze and respond to management issues and leadership challenges in their daily work and life using three modules: Individuals and Groups, Interpersonal Relationships and Leadership, and Organizations and Strategy. It introduces the use of classical management theories and cutting-edge research as intellectual tools for analysis, and includes extensive immersion and action learning, including analysis and discussion of cases, hands-on simulation, interviews with practitioners on and off campus, and independent projects for on-campus leadership initiatives. The course guides students to cross the boundary between management theory and practice, to develop systematic and critical thinking, to improve leadership skills when faced with complex problems and practical challenges, to think and act effectively, and to become actors who think deeply and thinkers who act vigorously.

ZHANG's research focuses on organizational behavior, and her interests include time, energy, and well-being issues at work, workday design and dynamics, and proactive behavior in organizations. Her teaching include a doctoral-level course "Research Methodology in Management", and undergraduate-level courses "Management as a Perspective: Systematic Thinking and Effective Actions", and "Introduction to Communications".

At the end of 2019, Tsinghua University established a special curriculum for general education with the offering of a wide variety of elective courses, including a selective set of Honors Courses, to reform its general education endeavors and accelerate the development of its "Double First-Class" (first-class universities and disciplines) goal. The identification and offering of Honors Courses will improve the quality of general course offerings and accelerate the establishment of an undergraduate general education model and curriculum system with Chinese characteristics, Tsinghua style, and contemporary features.

Editors: REN Zhongxi, Li Ying, Derrick Sobodash