On this special occasion, as we bid farewell to an unforgettable 2004 and welcome a promising 2005, I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the university to extend New Year's greetings and best wishes to Tsinghua students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

In the past year, we achieved great results in various aspects of our work and made new steps toward the goal of becoming a world-class university.

Based on the “Three Nine-Year Plan” strategy to build Tsinghua into a globally recognized university, we have continued to make progress on many fronts. We established the School of Aeronautics and Aviation in May. The Academy of Arts & Design has made obvious achievements since it was formed five years ago, and this year it received the highest rating of the discipline of art in a nationwide evaluation done by the Ministry of Education. In fact, among the 80 first-level disciplines evaluated in the period between 2002-2004, 13 disciplines of Tsinghua received the highest evaluation of the MOE, taking the lead among colleges and universities in China.

Tsinghua has been at the forefront of exploring new ways in which a research-oriented university can better foster its students. We have made it clear that undergraduate education should have an interdisciplinary, professional emphasis, based on a wider range of general knowledge. We have promoted a research-oriented teaching model, encouraging world-famous professors to bring their expertise to the classroom. As for postgraduate education, we continue to construct a system that encourages both quality and innovation, shortening the time needed to get the master's degree while increasing the efficiency of educational programs. In 2004, 17 courses taught in our university were named as elite courses in Beijing, and 13 courses were listed as elite courses from around the whole country. Tsinghua also recently held its 21st educational symposium, themed “Strengthening the Practice of Education and Cultivating People with Innovative Spirit,” to discuss new approaches to education and teaching.

In 2004, Tsinghua continued to actively promote scientific innovation. We made great achievements in many key scientific research projects. “Naxing I”, a satellite designed by Tsinghua, was successfully launched and is operating smoothly. In China's Scientific Papers Rankings 2003, Tsinghua ranked first nationwide for the number of research papers collected by SCI, EI, and ISTP respectively. According to SCI, 1,691 research papers have been cited by other publications. As of November 2004, the number of research papers collected by SSCI rose in rank to second place among universities in China.

As for international cooperation, Tsinghua hosted more than 5,700 overseas visitors in 2004, with ten state and international organization leaders including UN Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan, EU Secretary -General Javier Solana, Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, 46 ministers and ambassadors, 6 Nobel Prize winners, 159 university presidents, and 45 presidents of international companies. We formed and continued collaborative agreements and contracts with 24 world-famous universities in 2004. To date, 152 overseas universities have signed contracts with Tsinghua. In addition, we made special efforts to promote substantive cooperation with some world-class universities such as Harvard University, MIT, Stanford University, Oxford University, University of Cambridge, RWTH Aachen, and a number of transnational corporations in areas of professional development, talent cultivation, and more. Tsinghua sent abroad more than 3,600 faculty, while the number of students going abroad for academic, cultural, sports exchanges reached nearly 1,000.

Tsinghua has been attaching greater importance to the role of talented faculty in the development of the university. To this end, we have been trying to build a better environment for attracting outstanding teachers. In 2004, three Chair Professor Groups joined Tsinghua University, which increased the total number of these groups to 18. We brought in 180 talented faculty, 12 of whom are part of the “100 Leading Faculty Recruitment Program.” World-renowned professors such as Andrew Chi-chih Yao, the prominent computer scientist and Turing Award winner, and Chinese art historian Wen C. Fong joined Tsinghua in 2004. To recognize the faculty who have made great achievements in their work, we set up the Award for Prominent Contributors in Tsinghua University.

In 2004, we completed construction covering a total area of nearly 260,000 square meters. Tsinghua Zijing (redbud) Student Dormitory, which covers an area of 370,000 square meters, has been basically completed and more than 15,000 students have moved into the new complex. The “green campus” project is going smoothly; the newly built greenery areas have helped to improve the living and working conditions for students and teachers in Tsinghua.

The snow that fell before the New Year has added to the quiet elegance of the campus. As the old Chinese saying goes, a timely snow promises a good harvest, so we welcome the prosperous year of 2005. Let's bear in mind the Tsinghua motto of “Self-discipline and Social Commitment” so that we can write another great page in the progress towards becoming a world-class university and make memorable contributions to our motherland.