By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

An opening ceremony was held for the new graduate students of 2007 on August 30.  Tsinghua President Gu Binglin, University Council Chairman Chen Xi and other senior administrators attended the gathering for the more than 4,000 incoming students. Tsinghua Vice President Wang Jinsong hosted the ceremony.

President Gu delivered a speech entitled “Try to Become Innovative Talent to Meet the Nation’s Demands” at the ceremony.

In his address, President Gu congratulated the new students. He noted that graduate education is an important component of talent cultivation in Tsinghua and offered a few suggestions to the students in their future study.

President Gu encouraged the students to be innovative. “Innovation is one of the basic features of a world-class university,” said President Gu. He said that Tsinghua’s graduate education attaches great importance to the cultivation of students’ innovative awareness and capabilities. He hoped the students can be creative and cultivate critical thinking in their study and research, and meanwhile improve their ability to analyze and to solve problems. He urged the students to remember the Tsinghua motto-- “Rigor, Diligence, Veracity, and Creativity.” He also encouraged them to have lofty ideals, adopt a global vision, and pursue excellence.

Registration for the graduate students was held on August 29. Tsinghua enrolled 1,147 doctoral students and 2,900 master’s students in 2007.

(Photo by Guo Haijun)