Kim Chol Ju University of Education took the top and first places respectively in the national programming contest of university students in the field of teacher training-2025 and the ninth multilingual listening and conversation contest of university students in the field of teacher training which were held recently.

Ju Jong Sil, rector of the university, said that the secret of success is the organic combination of contest and education.

To win contests is important, but what is more important is to make progress in education, she said, adding that they prepared for the contests while focusing on improving the quality of education.

To be more specific, the university enhanced the role of lecturers in charge of guidance of the contestants and ensured their preparations for the contests became a process of creating and introducing new teaching methods and generalizing good experience.

In the past, the university achieved considerable successes in several contests of universities in the teacher training field, but no remarkable progress was made in improving the overall academic performance of students.

Therefore, it organized and conducted relevant work in recognition of the importance of the combination of contest and education in addressing such disproportion.

According to Kim Yong Sun, a lecturer who has been giving guidance to students in the study of foreign languages for contests for years, the course of preparing for the contests was just the process of applying new teaching methods, which greatly helped students improve their foreign language ability.

Jong Ok Byol, a lecturer who was in charge of the preparations for the programming contest, said that the generalization and positive introduction of newly created teaching methods served as a basis for winning the contest and a precious foundation for improving the quality of education.

The university also conducted the work to improve the students' abilities methodologically in close combination with practice.

As it pushed ahead with its informatization project, the university actively involved students in the development of relevant programs, as well as lecturers, so that they could acquire profound knowledge of their specialities and adjacent subjects and modern educational technology as well.

It also enlisted the cooperation of competent teachers of secondary education units in Pyongyang to improve the teaching abilities of its students.

As a result, the students could remarkably improve their practical skills with the help of teachers of junior and senior middle schools with rich practical experience.

Such positive efforts enabled the university to achieve sustainable development in education and great fame as well, said Ju Jong Sil.