President's New Year Message

Dear members of the Tsinghua community,

In warm celebration of the first day of 2015, we mark the end of 2014 with all friends and members of the Tsinghua community in delight and gratitude. I would like to share my reflections on the events of the past year as we forge ahead in our education, research and academic endeavors.

It has been a year of rethinking and reform. Tsinghua is proud to have a rising generation of talented, striving and innovative young students, a generation that will most likely be compromised by current higher education. After a year of debate, Tsinghua launched a bold educational reform in October 2014, which will guide us through a shift towards a new education model. Firstly, to prepare our students for increasing global challenges in a cross-cultural society, we recognize that the education we provide will have to immerse our students to environment of diverse culture and sense of global citizenship. Secondly, in addition to conveying skills and knowledge, our new education highlights the role of nurturing value in fostering talents. Rather than those being over-occupied by high scores, we acknowledge students that are willing, or even eager to tap into unknown fields of study, to explore cross-disciplinary initiatives and to develop their mindsets in multiple dimensions. Thirdly, an outstanding higher education should do more than cultivate the intellect; it will have to provide opportunities for the development of character. To this end, Tsinghua has reinforced a series of institutional commitments, including cross-disciplinary curricula reform, to cultivate leadership and encourage entrepreneurship. Fourth, we are engaged in the age of information technological revolution that entails unimagined innovations in our education. In this regard, we have continued to develop Tsinghua’s online education community and to adapt new applications of information technology to enrich our teaching and learning experience. Last but not least, we thrived to employ highest standards in faculty appointment and campus infrastructure development, which will further secure Tsinghua’s position in attracting and retaining the best students and scholars in China and around the world.

It has also been a year of opportunity and challenge. We had major breakthroughs in handful areas of cutting-edge research, including life science, medical science, material science, information technology, engineering, social science and humanity, which helped elevate our ability and potential to better serve our society. Most importantly, we have fundamentally expanded the scope and breadth of international collaborations. Last year, we welcomed our first batch of summer camp candidates for Schwartzman Scholar Program and witnessed the topping off of Schwartzman College. We formed substantial alliance with universities worldwide in establishing innovation, research and education centers, including Tsinghua-Berkeley Joint Institute in Shenzhen and XIN Center with Tel Aviv University. In these joint efforts, we addressed regional and global challenges through partnerships and reached out to industrial partners for ideas that are up-to-date and answer to the needs of the society. We also developed collaborative curricula with leading universities to enhance students’ experience at Tsinghua, including Tsinghua-Yale Dual Degree Program in Environment Management, Tsinghua-SAIS Dual Degree Program in Global Politics and Economics, Tsinghua-Columbia Dual Degree Program in Business Analytics and etc.

Thanks to the support from all friends and members of the Tsinghua community, we are able to enter 2015 with firm foundation and clear direction. Tsinghua will keep on aspiring to the Chinese Dream and striving to become a world-class university. To quote Philip James Bailey, that is, we live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths. Through the examples I have underlined and the many more accomplishments that distinguished the past year, we contemplate the future with courage and commitment, pride and perseverance.

With warmest wishes for a happy new year,

President

Tsinghua University