New Year’s Greeting from the President
We bid farewell to an unforgettable year, as the bell of 2013 is about to ring. On this special occasion, I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the university, to extend a New Year's greeting to all Tsinghua students, members of the faculty and staff, our alumni, and to those who have faithfully supported our university in the past.
2012 was the first year of Tsinghua’s new century of development. We have made plans for the next five years of the university’s future. By implementing the ‘Twelfth Five-Year Plan’, the university will focus on development and on meeting China’s national strategic needs. We will launch a comprehensive personnel system reform, to develop our faculty team with the goal of building stronger academic and research programs, and we will work towards building an atmosphere which encourages and accelerates development through reform and innovation.
In the past year, the university has continued with its strategy of building upon its advantages, while also pursuing comprehensive academic reform. We have implemented the ‘Tsinghua Xuetang Talent Program’, which educates students in accordance with their abilities. The ‘Outstanding Engineering Education Plan’ is a reform of the educational model for engineer training and is designed to instill students with a spirit of exploration and innovation and empower them with a strong ability for solving practical problems. We have reformed our doctoral supervisor selection process and are continually optimizing our postgraduate programs. We have improved our research platforms and facilities for key disciplines.
The university has opened several new departments in the past year, including the PBC School of Finance, the School of Humanities and the School of Social Sciences (based on the previous School of Humanities and Social Sciences), the Department of Basic Medical Sciences and the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
In the past year, a number of awards have been won by research groups at Tsinghua. Seventeen research projects at Tsinghua have won the 2011 National Science and Technology Award, including one State Technological Invention First Prize. Professor Wu Liangyong, a member of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was awarded the State Top Scientific and Technological Award. A research project on brain pacemakers was selected as one of 2012’s Top Ten Science and Technology Advancements in a Chinese University.
Our main strategy for strengthening the university is through the continued development of our personnel. We have also reformed our income distribution system and increased our faculty and staff income levels. We have substantially expanded international cooperation and developed stable channels for international training of students. We have also worked towards improving and expanding our foreign student programs.
In keeping with the success of our efforts, we should work towards promoting a talent-oriented development strategy that cultivates future scholars and industry leaders for the development of China. Accordingly, our education system must be adapted to meet the needs of our country’s long-term development goals. We should strive to understand the profound changes taking place in the world’s economy, in its social structure and in the effect of new science and technology on the educational model. From this we should continue to advance our academic reform, and to cultivate talent that can meet the nation’s strategic needs for the future.
We must ensure that our academic programs and scientific and technological development are based on innovative strategies. We should orient our work towards major national strategic needs and towards the forefront of international academic development. We need to closely match educational innovation with scientific, technological, and social development. We should also focus our research on areas with long-term strategic significance.
With our historic mission and important responsibility, we should carry forward the university spirit and culture. Tsinghua faculty, staff, and students should think of their role in building a world-class university. They should bear in mind the Tsinghua motto of “Self-discipline and Social Commitment” and embrace the university spirit of “Action Speaks Louder Than Words”. We must remember to be pragmatic and work hard to promote the development of the university.
The coming new year brings great new dreams. Let us consider our responsibilities towards university reform and towards improving the quality of our programs. Let us make significant contributions to the development of the Chinese nation and to the world.
