Tsinghua University held a conference on October 16 to mark the tenth anniversary of its Global Strategy, reviewing a decade of achievements in international engagement and exploring future opportunities for high-level opening up and cooperation in education.

Qiu Yong, Secretary of the CPC Tsinghua University Committee, attended the conference and delivered a keynote address. Tsinghua University President Li Luming delivered opening remarks. Executive Vice President Zeng Rong, and Yang Bin, Vice Chairman of the Tsinghua University Council, also attended the event, which was held at the University's Main Building.

Venue of the conference

Qiu expressed appreciation on behalf of the University to faculty members, students, and staff who had worked to advance Tsinghua's Global Strategy over the past decade. He emphasized that openness is essential to a university's pursuit of world-class excellence. Guided by General Secretary Xi Jinping's vision, Tsinghua has remained steadfast in implementing its Global Strategy and deepening its engagement with the world. The University has become more innovative and internationally connected, with a stronger commitment to humanistic values. Its academic strength and international reputation have also risen significantly, marking historic progress in building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics.

Qiu said the University's experience in advancing high-level openness had reinforced the importance of taking a long-term view of global trends and maintaining a firm commitment to openness amid change. He also emphasized the need for Tsinghua to position itself within the global higher education landscape and actively help shape its transformation, while remaining rooted in China and showcasing the strengths of Chinese universities on the world stage. People-to-people exchanges, he noted, are essential to fostering mutual understanding and enabling universities to play their distinctive role in dialogue and mutual learning among civilizations. He further highlighted the responsibility to take concrete action in support of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Looking ahead, Qiu said Tsinghua must continue along the path of developing socialist education with Chinese characteristics, remain rooted in China, and deepen its engagement with the world. He emphasized the need to strengthen the University's capacity to shape the future and pursue far-reaching systemic progress and transformative change.

Tsinghua should further expand its global network of partners and open up new avenues for international cooperation. It should place student development at the heart of its work, continue to enhance students' global competence, and build a high-caliber, diverse faculty by cultivating, attracting, and making effective use of talent. The University should also take an active role in global governance and respond to challenges facing humanity, while helping drive the transformation of higher education and striving to lead its development worldwide. At the same time, the University should strengthen its capacity to support international engagement and foster a more open and inclusive campus environment.

Qiu noted that in 2088, universities will celebrate their millennium. He expressed hope that the University community would work together, seize opportunities, and collaborate with global partners with a vision that spans centuries and reaches across the world, finding opportunities for progress amid change and keeping pace with the times to shape a more open and better future.

In his opening remarks, Li Luming noted that over the past decade, Tsinghua had steadily advanced its Global Strategy, continuously enhanced its global influence, and achieved substantial results in internationalization, while deepening its understanding of openness in higher education through practice. He emphasized that openness is essential to enhancing students' global competence and cultivating outstanding innovative talent. He added that openness lays an important foundation for exploring scientific principles and advancing technological innovation and social progress, and is integral to contributing to global governance and building a community with a shared future for mankind. In the face of new global challenges, universities should remain firmly committed to opening up, expanding international academic exchanges and cooperation in education and research, and working together to bring greater certainty to an uncertain world. Li added that Tsinghua would further advance its Global Strategy, accelerate efforts to develop a new framework for openness and cooperation, and continue striving for a place among the world's leading universities. He expressed hope that Tsinghua would work hand in hand with partners around the world to make new and greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Yang Bin reflected on the historical context and strategic considerations behind the introduction of Tsinghua's first Global Strategy in 2016. He noted that a decade of implementation had demonstrated the responsibility universities bear in helping build a community with a shared future for mankind, while bringing Tsinghua's internationalization and global influence to new heights. He called for a continued commitment to high-level opening up and further efforts to put the Global Strategy into practice, enabling Tsinghua to contribute to the development of global higher education and the progress of human civilization.

The conference presented Tsinghua's progress over the past decade through four themes: the origins and layout of the Global Strategy, global faculty, global students and global competence, and the international campus.

Chen Taotao, Director of the Tsinghua University Latin America Center; Wang Shuaiguo, Secretary-General of the Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance; and Xue Jian, Secretary of the School of Economics and Management CPC Committee, shared achievements in developing overseas centers, international university alliances, and advisory mechanisms.

Faculty members Liu Fenrong from the School of Humanities, who is also Director of Tsinghua University – University of Amsterdam Joint Research Centre for Logic; Andrew Godfrey from the School of Materials Science and Engineering; Bartek Czech from the Institute for Advanced Study; Denis Simon from Schwarzman College; and Ouyang Zheng, Dean of Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, shared their experiences of teaching, research, and academic life at Tsinghua.

Four students, including Guo Shuohai from the School of Vehicle and Mobility, Zhang Yue from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Yulia Temelidi from the School of Social Sciences, and Phang Lixian from the School of Economics and Management, reflected on how developing global competence had shaped their personal and academic journeys.

Li Jinliang, Secretary of the PBC School of Finance CPC Committee; Xing Yunxi from the School of Journalism and Communication; and Veldesen Yaputra from the School of Architecture shared their observations on the transformation of Tsinghua's international campus over the past decade.

Group photo of conference participants

More than 300 people attended the conference, including officials from the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges of the Ministry of Education, the Department of Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, and the exit-entry administration of the Haidian Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. Other attendees included representatives of domestic and international partners, corporate and individual donors, heads of schools, departments and administrative offices across the University, international affairs staff, Special Envoys for International Cooperation, leaders of Global Strategy layout project, and representatives of Chinese and international faculty and students.

Writer: Gillian Tang

Editors: Li Han, John Paul Grima