Harbin Institute of Technology

Reported by: LAN Rui

Photographed by: WEN Ting, CHANG Xi and XIANG Bixia

Translated by: REN Shaorui

Edited by: D. Parker

Date: September 19, 2017

From September 11th to 13th, President ZHOU Yu and his entourage did research at the campus in Shenzhen by listening to the courses of undergraduate and graduate students, checking the expansion site of the new campus, and attending such activities as the 2017 opening ceremony of the Shenzhen campus, the forum for representatives of students and teachers and the like. Meanwhile, ZHOU met with CHEN Rugui, the mayor of Shenzhen.

On September 11th, ZHOU conducted deep exchanges with CHEN in terms of college and location cooperation. Zhou Yu thanked the Shenzhen Municipal party committee and the city government for their strong support for the school in Shenzhen. He introduced the development course and achievements of HIT and the Shenzhen campus. ZHOU said that in the future HIT would continue to work together with Shenzhen Municipal Government to build the campus in Shenzhen. They will focus on an innovative mechanism and management model. They will strive to promote the Shenzhen campus to become an example for higher education reform, a bridgehead for high-end talents. The Shenzhen campus will be an international demonstration area with the goal of becoming a leading institute in China and throughout the world, advancing the development of higher education as well as economic and social development in Shenzhen and contributing to the construction of “Double First-rate for HIT.”

CHEN congratulated the Shenzhen campus on the implementation of the undergraduate education program approved by the Ministry of Education. The fruitful achievements of the Shenzhen campus in the past 15 years are greatly appreciated. According to CHEN, as an important part of Shenzhen-Harbin cooperation, the construction of the Shenzhen campus will be fully supported by the Shenzhen municipal government in the future as in the past. He hopes the Shenzhen campus can make full use of the powerful Engineering advantages and high-quality educational resources of HIT. In doing so the Shenzhen campus will forge ahead with innovation and high quality, thus building a new way for higher education reform and development with Shenzhen characteristics and HIT standards. This will provide new experience for the reform of national higher education, and make contributions to Shenzhen as a modern and international city with innovation.

On September 12th, ZHOU attended the opening ceremony for the 2017 Shenzhen campus and addressed the incoming freshmen. First, he admonished students to establish strict specifications, master professional knowledge and cherish the time. He encouraged them to become high-quality talent with knowledge, wisdom, ideas and open vision. Second, the students should adhere to high standards in study, accumulate abundant knowledge, inherit and carry forward the spirit of HIT, becoming the elite with self-reliance, perseverance, a solid foundation of knowledge and outstanding abilities. Third, he told students to inherit real specifications, show great proficiency and keep the dream alive without arrogance or rashness. Then they will become ambitious, enterprising, pragmatic and innovative talents.

At the opening ceremony, representatives from the alumni, faculty, non-freshmen and freshmen made speeches respectively. They are JING Xiaojun, the chairman of Surfilter network technology Co., Ltd., HUANG Cheng, the expert of Thousand Youth Talents Program from the Organization Department of the Central Committee and executive director of the School of Economics and Management, LIANG Yanming, a 2016 graduate from Civil and Environmental Engineering Institute, NI Ziyi, a 2017 undergraduate student from the School of Electronics and Information Engineering.

On September 11th and 13th, ZHOU held discussions and exchanges with the representatives of students and teachers from Shenzhen campus respectively.

After listening to the suggestions from student representatives for the development of campus construction, ZHOU maintained that the Shenzhen campus was still in the start-up stage and he hoped teachers and students could keep the early dream in mind, forge forward, and grow and progress together with the campus. Meanwhile, ZHOU believes the students should cherish this time to learn in school, becoming the pillar of our country and the pride of HIT.

In exchanges with faculty representatives, ZHOU made a request for all teachers regarding how to do the work of “personnel training center.” He pointed out that HIT grasped the rare historical opportunity to establish a campus in Shenzhen. The hope is that all teachers fully carry forward the sense of ownership, establish the overall concept and awareness, strengthen the sense of innovation and exploration, and work from the focus of scientific research to personnel training as a fundamental value. They should be committed to cultivating a higher level of talents, working hard for a better tomorrow for the Shenzhen campus and the goal of HIT becoming a powerful and world-class school with Chinese characteristics and HIT specifications.

Several representatives also participated in these activities. They are LI Tingzhong, secretary general of Shenzhen municipal government, HAN Jiecai, vice president, and ZHEN Liang, assistant to the president and deputy director of the Preparatory Office of the campus.