2018 Opening Ceremony for the Postgraduates was convened at Jiaotingbiao Hall of Jiulonghu Campus, Southeast University in the afternoon of August 31. School leaders including Zuo Wei, Zhang Guangjun, Wang Baoping, Zheng Jiamao, Ren Lijian, Ding Hui, Huang Dawei, Jin Baosheng, school’s CPC and political leaders from all schools and departments, principals from relevant departments and offices of the school’s organs, 4882 postgraduate freshmen and 724 Ph.D candidates enrolled in autumn attended the opening ceremony. The ceremony was presided over by Jin Baosheng, Vice President and Director of the Graduate School. All the teachers and students present watched the school’s publicity video titled “What A Great Southeast University”as prepared by the Propaganda Department of the School’s Party Committee.

At the ceremony, President Zhang Guangjun expressed his sincere congratulations and welcome to the postgraduate freshmen enrolled in 2018 on behalf of the school, and made a speech titled “Struggle in the New Era and Advance on the New Journey”. He pointed out that everyone’s future and destiny would be closely related to that of the country and nation. Each individual can only find their meaning of life and realize their value of life by integrating their destiny with the theme of the times. As stressed by President Zhang, the students present today would shoulder sacred and heavy responsibilities in the new era; but of course, would also feel very lucky and extraordinarily happy because they would be entitled to witness the country’s great leap from “catching up with the times” to “leading the times” and encounter the golden opportunity of the country’s calling for innovation, desiring talents and pursuing the first-class construction; in addition, they would feel even more privileged for engagement in the great historic progress of realizing the “Two Centennial Goals” and the “Chinese dream” of achieving the nation’s great rejuvenation.   

It is the unswerving initial aspiration and endless mission of people from Southeast University to “be renowned for advanced scientific innovation and make contributions to the country by talents” President Zhang briefly introduced the struggle history of Southeast University from the initial aspiration to the pursuit of perfection, and pointed out that the school’s comprehensive capacity has been unceasingly promoted in resent years owing to the continuous innovations and struggle of people from Southeast University. Thus all the postgraduate freshmen were expected to get engaged in the school’s new journey of constructing a “double first-class” university and compose their own stories of struggle on this holy and well-loved campus for innovation.

In order to guide these postgraduate freshmen to correctly embark on their new journey at Southeast University and better master their turning point of life, President Zhang used three key words about struggle including direction, wisdom and courage to encourage all the students and propose ardent expectations. President Zhang expected that all the students could keep firmly in their ideals, establish high aspirations, shoulder the mission and thus lead the times towards the struggle direction in the new era of becoming qualified constructors of socialism with Chinese characteristics and reliable successors; he expected all the students could strive to become the transcender and leader of new ideas, new knowledge and new technologies, and thus manifest their wisdom of struggle in the innovative development; he expected that all the students could not only be courageous in advancing, pioneering and contribution, but also persist in purifying the soul and tempering the will in hardship; finally, President Zhang encouraged the students to always breathe with the times, share the destiny with the motherland and integrate their personal pursuit with the national undertaking in the new era and with the struggle for realizing the “Chinese dream” of the nation’s great rejuvenation. Thus the students could compose their glorious chapter on the great journey of constructing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era with their youth and wisdom.

Professor Liu Songyu from the School of Transportation addressed as a teachers’ representative at the opening ceremony. He shared his thoughts on guiding the postgraduates and scientific researches, expected that all the students could work hard and intensify their skills during their graduate studies, persist in study and work to realize their dream of life with gritty efforts.

Jia Haoran, the students’ representative from the School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Pan Qiang, the freshmen representative from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and Fernand coming from Burundi, the representative of international students from the School of Civil Engineering addressed the opening ceremony respectively.

In addition to the main venue at Jiaotingbiao Hall, the opening ceremony was also convened simultaneously at several parallel sessions at Jiulonghu Campus, Sipailou Campus and Dingjiaqiao Campus.

     It is reported that among the 4,882 postgraduates enrolled in 2018, there are 4,162 full-time postgraduates and 2,069 postgraduates for academic degrees. In 2018, the enrolment of Ph.D. candidates exceeds 1,000 students for the first time, a total of 1,091 Ph.D. candidates including 862 full-time Ph.D. candidates to be enrolled in spring and autumn respectively. Among the 724 Ph.D. candidates to be enrolled in autumn, there are 78 students selected from excellent undergraduates directly for Ph.D. degree, 89 students involved in successive postgraduate and doctoral program of the school and 180 students in engineering selected from Ph.D. classes engaged in national major special programs.