English

Students learn fundamental theories and methods of database systems: what they are, how they are developed, and how they function to achieve their purposes. The course exemplifies these constructs with contemporary database technologies and students learn how these technologies are exploited to build effective information systems of different scale.

This course provides a Law and Politics study on current issues of "Democracy in Crisis" from the perspective of comparative law. The course also covers what the rule of law might mean to democracy and how these two fundamental political ideas play a mutually complementary role for each other in practice and in theory. Students explore the foundations of democracy vis a vis reasons why this political regime is still important to - and conceived as pivotal in - civil society today.  

Topics include Weakening of Referee Institutions in India, Democracy in Crisis in Southeast Asia, State Capacity and Accountability in Low-Income States, Democratic Backsliding and the Politicization of Public Employment; Nationalist Passion, Economic Interest, and the Moral Economy of the Hungarian Civic Right: 2002-2010, Election Administration and Democratic Fragility in the USA, Post-Communist Democracy, Civil Society, and the Problem of Accountability, Civil Society Resistance to Democratic Backsliding, Social Media, Disinformation, and Resilience of Democracy, and Security Imperative and Right Nationalist Politics in Contemporary Europe and USA.   

Family firms are the dominant organizational form worldwide, yet a distinctive field of study due to the potential tensions and synergies between family and business systems. This course explores these tensions and synergies, which are manifested in the resources, governance, succession planning, and most important the entrepreneurial orientation and transgenerational value creation potential of family businesses. While research has found consensus on some general trends and characteristics of family firms, there are some surprising outcomes that challenge existing theories. 

The course consists of two modules. Module 1, an introduction to gender science and its application to physics is worth 4.5 credits and reviews different theories within gender research. Fields like the learning of physics, the history of physics, knowledge production, and the culture of physics are analyzed from a gender perspective. Both statistical, quantitative, and qualitative analyses from socio-psychological, anthropological, and sociological studies are presented to describe sex segregation, balance of power, culture, and knowledge in physics. Module 2, a project on a gender perspective on physics is worth 3 credits. Projects include a gender analysis of one's activities in physics or an example from the department they study in or a literature study or similar in relevant fields for the course.

The course designs the composition and content of lectures based on the actual situation of top experts in relevant fields. Leaders, experts and scholars from Chinese government departments, international organizations, institutions and embassies in China, non-governmental organizations and well-known schools home and abroad will be eligible to be invited to give lectures this course. Students have the opportunity to engage with lecturers in an in-depth discussion of practices and challenges in the field of sustainable development. This course is mainly based on classroom lectures. The Office of International Exchange and Cooperation and the Teaching Office of Tsinghua University School of Public Policy and Management will jointly organize and identify relevant lectures. Students are required to attend no less than 16 hours of lectures after selecting the course, and submit course papers to complete the course study.

The course offers a critical reading of the work undertaken by all international criminal courts and tribunals. Throughout the course, the basic tenets of Criminal Justice and their application at the international level to discover the fragility of the international legal system, its interplay with global, regional, and local politics, and the challenges of reconciling justice with the interest of states are studied. Topics covered include the selection of cases at the international level, the relation of courts with states (participants and by-standers), the setting of goals and the measuring results of courts, determining the societal impact that courts have in the international community, determining the impact courts have on individuals (end-users) such as victims and accused, the role of international criminal courts in the writing/re-writing of history, the effectiveness of courts in responding to ever-growing international criminality and the alternatives available to address the same. The course presents challenging debates regarding the state of international criminality and justice, tests criticisms in the field with real-life practice, and sparks debates regarding solutions or alternatives to all the limitations of the international criminal justice system.

As the demand for digital visualization is rapidly growing, there is a need to learn about computer graphics. Today, industries such as animations, games, movies, advertising, architecture, and many other fields are no longer sustainable without computer graphic technologies. With the development and broader utilization of digital visualization, there is a growing need to develop basic knowledge of computer graphic technology. This course aims to review basic computer graphic tools and then introduce various techniques for creative visual expression for a wide range of applications. This course is to understand the usages and the characteristics of essential 2D graphic tools; to engage in the creative process by producing artwork and compositions; and to experiment with expressivity to elevate both the aesthetic and emotional qualities within the artistic endeavors, mainly learning how to use photoshop/illustrator/InDesign. 

The purpose of this course is to understand how race and gender issues have been represented in different dramatic texts since the late 19th to the early 21st century modern drama. Each week the course discusses one (or sometimes two dramatic) text(s) to examine how each playwright use different dramatic strategy, symbols, mise-en-scene, and characterization to convey his or her social and political messages. By the end of the course, students understand several playwrights' dominant aesthetics and historical contexts and the critical turning points in the history of modern and contemporary drama from 1870s to the present.