Dr. Chen Jining was appointed as the President of Tsinghua University on February 20, with the approval from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. Dr. Chen succeeds Professor Gu Binglin, who retired from the position at the same time.

The announcement of the new president was made by Mr. Li Zhiyong, the Vice Director of Central Organisational Department on February 20 at a meeting of senior Tsinghua administrators. Mr. Yuan Guiren, Minister of Education, and Mr. Zhao Fengtong, the member of the Standing Committee of CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and secretary of the Education Committee of CPC Beijing Municipal Committee attended the meeting and delivered speeches respectively .

Dr. Chen Jining is a professor of environmental system analysis of School of Environment. He joined the Tsinghua University staff in 1998 as Vice Dean of the department of Environmental Engineering and became Dean of that department in 1999. Dr. Chen was appointed as Vice President of Tsinghua University in 2006. He became Vice Standing President of Tsinghua in 2007.