Dear faculty, students and alumni both at home and abroad:
On this beautiful day in April with spring in the air, we are here to celebrate the 68th anniversary of the founding of USTB. On behalf of the university, I extend my warm greetings and best wishes to all the faculty, students, retirees and alumni at home and abroad, as well as all our friends who continue to support us.
Our university’s anniversary has always been an important time for all of us, but this year’s anniversary is even more special and memorable. At this moment, with the smell of spring everywhere on campus, members of USTB around the world are gathering through the internet to share their love and appreciation for our university. “If we have classmates who know our heart, distance cannot keep us apart”. No matter where you are, your alma mater wants to say to you，“every day is a sunny day, if you are in good health".
The past 68 years have witnessed USTB growing from a “cradle of steel” to a “palace of technology”. While pursuing our dreams, we have continued to contribute to our nation and tirelessly seek truth and innovation, having never been stopped by any obstacle. We have turned challenges into opportunities, pressure into power, and forged ahead with sincerity. With this spirit, we have helped generations of students to achieve their dreams. We have used our intelligence to serve and improve our society, and our strength to help the development of our country. The world is changing, time passes by, but the growth of USTB will never end. This is the time for us to build upon our previous successes and break new records in the construction of a first-class global university with Chinese characteristics.
USTB continues to forge ahead with even greater determination. At the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the COVID-19 epidemic broke out in China. All members of USTB worked together as one to fight against the epidemic, dedicating themselves to a conflict played out in cities across the nation. Our CPC members stayed on campus to protect us day and night, and our scientific research teams wasted no time in beginning research on the prevention and control of COVID-19. Our youth teachers and students never hesitated to assist on the front line of the conflict, while our alumni worked hard to collect and donate medical supplies. At the same time, students commenced learning from home as more than 2,200 courses to commenced on schedule via online classrooms. Through the internet, we achieved a deep integration between modern information technology and education, serving to minimize the impact of the epidemic on our teaching environment and learning outcomes. The graduation and employment of students is also of concern to USTB and its alumni. We will make every endeavor to help our students graduate smoothly and find jobs during this hard time. We also look forward to working with our alumni to overcome difficulties and support USTB students in their future growth and progress.
USTB looks to the future with firm goals. No matter whether it was during the early stages of the founding of the PRC when our country had nothing, or in the current era when we are capable of serving our nation with science and technology, USTB has never faltered in its determination to share in the challenges and successes of China. In the last year, USTB celebrated China’s 70th anniversary with all the Chinese people. We are especially proud of the more than 2,271 teachers and students who participated in the National Day ceremony. They worked day and night with selfless dedication. demonstrating USTB’s spirit of patriotism, conscientiousness and diligence, while perfectly executing their responsibilities for the event. In 2019, our Party Committee organized an educational event with the topic of “Remaining true to our original aspirations and keeping our mission firmly in mind”, based upon the goal of building an excellent university in the modern era. Keeping our goals in mind and the needs of the people paramount, we will continue to work towards building a first-class global university, with dedication to provide excellence in higher education to serve the nation and clear understanding of our mission and vision.
USTB continues to develop with more unique features. Discipline construction has always been USTB’s top priority in order to advance its educational level. In 2019, with the aim of continually optimizing our discipline structure, we focused on the construction of distinctive major safety disciplines, including Materials Service Safety, Metal Smelting Safety, Resources Development Safety, and Urban Underground Space Service Safety, while the USTB Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence also commenced operations. In the QS World University Rankings 2020, USTB ranks 462nd worldwide and 20th nationwide, with 10 disciplines ranking within the global top 500. Seventeen of our disciplines are listed in the "Shanghai Ranking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects", with Metallurgical Engineering ranking first worldwide. USTB now ranks in the global top 1% for the first time in environment and ecology research fields according to the Essential Science Indicators (ESI). Two of our disciplines, artificial intelligence and safety science and engineering, are included in the list of top disciplines for Beijing-based universities and colleges. 13 USTB disciplines, including Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering, were chosen to be part of a National First-class Undergraduate Discipline Development Program. Materials Science and Engineering and Thermal Science and Energy Engineering were chosen as part of the Beijing “First-class Discipline Construction” Initiative.
USTB seeks to build upon its strength in delivering higher quality education. “Fostering Morality through Education” has always been the most fundamental USTB’s tasks. We are committed to promoting the “three all-round” education system and improving our personnel cultivation methods through the promotion of science-education integration and industry-education integration. We have continued to implement systemic reforms in education and teaching by assigning each freshman an exclusive supervisor as part of a comprehensive undergraduate mentor program. We are happy to announce that over the past year 1,187 students obtained national and provincial-level honors, 2,124 graduates enrolled in prestigious universities at home and abroad for further study, and 234 graduates went on to contribute to the development of regions in western China. Meanwhile, more students continue to work toward their dreams, seeing our alumni as their role models. Our students' progress and achievements have always represented the greatest work USTB has achieved to date!
A forward-looking USTB promotes a more progressive and dynamic faculty. By continuously adhering to our strategy of “strengthening the university through talents”, we have paid equal emphasis to recruiting and cultivating faculty. Through the "USTB Scholars" program, “two-way" strategy for youth teachers, and the "project mentor program", we have worked to develop a leadership cultivation system for our young talents. In 2019, Academician MAO Xinping, a USTB alum, became a tenured USTB professor. Prof. ZHANG Yue was elected to be an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, while Prof. LIU Huanming was elected to be an academician of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. We have seen new faces join us as well, including two newly recruited global expert talents, seven winners of the national “Ten-thousand Talents Program”, 10 national-level young talents, and five talents with the title “Prestigious Teacher of Beijing”. The joint efforts of the faculty have contributed to promoting the original aspirations and mission of USTB so as to enhance student morality and foster innovative talents.
Our university has achieved even greater successes in scientific research. USTB attaches equal importance to shouldering the national mission and exploring technological innovation. We have continued to focus on building first-rate research platforms and teams as well as undertaking major research programs, resulting in a number of significant achievements. As a result, in 2019 USTB was recognized as a Key Area Innovative Team by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and awarded the National Foundation Innovative Group Program. In addition, we founded one new national research base, and commenced one new major National Natural Science Foundation of China project as well as three new National Key Research and Development projects. USTB won three National Science & Technology Awards, three first prizes of Scientific Research Outstanding Achievement Awards in Higher Institutions by the Ministry of Education, and two scientific and technological achievements were on display during the parade for the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of our nation. Our research funding exceeded 1 billion RMB, an increase of 25% compared with 2018.
A progressive USTB builds stronger social and international influence. We remain committed to promoting our development strategy of fostering international cooperation. As a result, in 2019 we established partnerships with 6 overseas institutions including the University of Munich and the National University of Singapore . By focusing on various industries and the national economy, we established strategic partnerships with 10 institutions including China First Heavy Industries and the National Museum of China, showing our charm and conscientiousness in a broader arena. We saw many instances of our university’s outstanding reputation highlighted in the mainstream media; CCTV, the People’s Daily, and the Guangming Daily reported on our work and achievements over 100 times. We embraced the mission of poverty alleviation by offering support in areas of education, industry, and science & technology. We are so glad to hear that Qin’an county has been lifted out of poverty. Additionally, we have repeatedly received excellent feedback from our alumni in various industries. One alumnus, YIN Xuejun, directed the design of the tuned mass damper for vortex-induced vibration mitigation, which guaranteed the successful construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. The HBIS Serbia Executive team, led by alumnus ZHAO Jun, was honored with the title of “Model of Our Time” by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. Our alumni continue to strongly represent USTB both in those grand-scale projects and the national honors for the country through their hard work and striking achievements!
Great undertakings begin with dreams and are achieved by hard work. As we continue to guard against the coronavirus epidemic, we must remain prudent until the end. To be a first-class global university, we must work hand in hand. To alleviate poverty, we must share our wisdom. On the way to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we must not hesitate to devote our strength. A forward-looking USTB will continue to apply herself to cultivating first-rate talents, making great contributions to society, and achieving the goal of becoming top-class global university. We will live up to the history and expectations of our faculty, students and alumni and, furthermore, achieve new success that will make our faculty and students feel fulfilled, our reputation distinguished and our alumni proud.
“After the clouds disappear, the sun will come out; after a hurricane comes a rainbow.” While we can’t gather together to celebrate USTB’s anniversary because of the epidemic, I believe that we will win this battle against epidemic and the day for us to gather on campus will come again soon. Our hearts are linked together and are never far apart because of our shared home, the University of Science and Technology Beijing, the spiritual harbor for us all. On this day of our university’s anniversary, we wish for a more prosperous and powerful China; we wish a brighter future for USTB; and we wish members of USTB to be in good health and find great success in work.
In pursuit of a dream, USTB remains forever young!
In pursuit of their dreams, progressive USTBers remain forever young!
WU Guilong, Chancellor of USTB
YANG Renshu, President of USTB
April 22, 2020
