Congratulatory Speech on the Anniversary Celebration of Tsinghua University
April in northerly Beijing is the best time to witness flowers blooming, plants shooting and birds cheerfully flying. The redbud trees that are in full blossom have filled many corners of Tsinghua campus. It is amid this pleasant atmosphere and springy beauty that the 103rd anniversary of Tsinghua University duly arrives. On behalf of the university, I would like to extend the warmest greetings to all the faculty, staff, students and alumni, and the sincerest thanks to all the friends who have given support to the development of Tsinghua.
Over the past year, Tsinghua University has continued its reform and development, striding forward in view of both the need of the Chinese nation’s development and the progression of human civilization. It has performed well in the areas of both teaching and research, fulfilling the country's strategic needs and marching towards the goal of becoming a world-class university.
In the aspect of teaching and education, centred around the fundamental mission of talent cultivation, Tsinghua has spared no efforts to innovate its educational model and improve the level and quality of its education. Themed “innovating the educational model, stimulating students’ academic interest, and improving the teaching quality”, the university's ongoing 24th Education Conference aims to inspire students’ inner desires for truth and knowledge so that they would get elevated in knowledge and ability and cultivated in thoughts and value commitment; thus, an eventual integration of knowledge transfer with capability training and value commitment nurturing is expected to be achieved. In the meantime, the university has made great efforts to implement the various innovative programmes and the system of cultivating international perspectives for its students, having established student exchange partnership with nearly one hundred overseas institutions. A joint double degree programme with John Hopkins University in the field of global politics and economy has been established. The advancement of Schwarzman Scholars Programme has resulted in widespread domestic and international interest and involvement. Tsinghua has also stepped up its efforts to develop online education and has launched its own “TsinghuaX” platform, whose cumulative enrollment has exceeded 100,000 people.
In the area of scholarship and the construction of academic subjects and disciplines, Tsinghua persists in making innovation its engine forward. By optimising the structure of its academic subjects, the university has further strengthened its capabilities for original innovation and creation and for serving China's primary needs for development. At present, 13 academic subjects of the university have been ranked among the world top 1% of Essential Science Indicators (ESI), among which, Engineering and Material Science entered top 0.01%, while Chemistry, Physics and Computer Science entered top 0.1%. According to the latest QS world university ranking by subjects, seven subjects from Tsinghua, namely Material Science, Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Environment Engineering, Civil Engineering and Statistics, have made to the world’s top 20. Over the past year, 15 scientific achievements were granted the National Science and Technology Award 2013. The research team headed by academician Xue Qikun observed the Anomalous Quantum Hall Effect when conducting experiments and was honoured with the 2013 Top Ten National Science and Technology Progress Award. Professor Li Xueqin was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Chinese Humanistic and Academic Writing, Professor Wang Hui received the Luca Pacioli Prize, while Professor Shi Yigong became the first Chinese scientist to receive the Gregori Aminoff Prize.
China has now entered a new phase of deepening the national reform and advancing its socialism undertakings with Chinese characteristics. Against this backdrop, Tsinghua University has also reached a critical stage of strengthening its own reform and accelerating its progress towards the goal of becoming a world-class university. We look forward to the continuous attention and support from our alumni and friends. Together we shall compose a new chapter for Tsinghua’s development in the new century, and realize the great dream of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Last but not least, may I wish all the faculty and staff members, our alumni, and our friends from both home and abroad health, joy, and happiness in your life, work and study!
