Student research projects in the summer

The “three early contacts” in the medical education in Sun Yat-sen University means early contacts with clinical diagnosis, scientific research and social practice. Started in 1998, the student research projects in the summer is one of the means to apply the principle of early contact with scientific research by the students. Another means is research work in spare time, which was begun in 1980 and is divided into two ways of self-selection and bidding, for the approved research projects of the faculty by all the students. Each semester, over 600 students got into early contact with scientific research in nearly 100 projects, with over 300 teachers participating in the projects. So far, 619 scientific research projects have received funding of 700,000 yuan. Over 900 papers have been published or included in collections, of which 120 were signed by students as the first author and carried on formally published periodicals. Twelve papers won third prize at the “Challenge Cup” Design Competition of College Students in Guangdong in 2000 and 2002. One item won the Award for Student Invention Patent.