The 2019 student welcome ceremony of Shenzhen University was held on September 11th, 2019. It was attended by Liu Hongyi, Secretary of the Party Committee of SZU, Li Qingquan, President of SZU, Ni Jiazuan, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guo Renzhong and Chen Xiangsheng, Academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Fan Zhigang and Lu Chengyan, Vice Secretaries of the Party Committee of SZU,Wang Hui, Li Yonghua and Zhang Xueji, Vice Presidents of SZU. Some students’ parents were also present.
President Li delivered an inspiring speech to more than ten thousand freshmen encouraging them to be persistent in their pursuit of “Poems and Dreams”. Among them were 129 freshmen who were awarded scholarships. Chen Yidan, an outstanding alumnus of Shenzhen University and one of the founders of Tencent, also returned to his alma mater to share his thoughts on ideals and life.
Quality of students reaches new peak: Scholarships of up to RMB 50 thousand were awarded to freshmen
More than 10 thousand freshmen were admitted to SZU this year, including 6908 undergraduates. Undergraduate admission scores ranked in the top 4 in Guangdong province for 6 consecutive years. This year, SZU recruited 2958 master students, 180 Ph.D. students, among which 537 are exam-exempted students. Many of them graduated from top universities at home and abroad. More than 500 international students from 73 different countries have been enrolled by SZU, as a result of an increasing global recognition and impact growing year after year.
At the ceremony, Liu Hongyi, Secretary of the CPC Committee of SZU, presented awards to the scholarship-winning students. This year, SZU continues to implement the training project for "top innovative talents" to reward the freshmen with excellent performance in the college entrance examination. Deng Bin was among five freshmen who received a scholarship of RMB 50,000 second grade award. Zhu Shu was among 125 freshmen who received a scholarship of RMB 30,000 third grade award.
Optimal platform for growth: President Li encourages freshmen to be confident and persistent
During his speech, Li said that Shenzhen has recently been officially established as the pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics and will be the new global pacesetter with outstanding competitiveness, innovative capacity and influence. “You have come at a historical moment,” said Li, “Everything is right on time.” Shenzhen University has shared the same growth with the city of Shenzhen for 36 years, during which the University has set the “SZU speed” for constructing a high-level university, closely following the development of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. Over the past 36 years, more than 100,000 alumni have graduated from Shenzhen University. More than 80% of them have settled in Shenzhen and become the backbone of various undertakings in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.
Most of the 2019 freshmen are "post-2000s", a generation that has grown up with the rapid development of the Internet in China. They are facing more opportunities and challenges. According to Li, Shenzhen University has an innovative talent training system and a good entrepreneurial environment to help students realize their dreams. SZU provides an internationalized learning and living environment to broaden students' horizons. Students can join student associations to hone their skills and meet people. Known as “the university of volunteers”, SZU upholds a love-and-kindness tradition to promote good virtues. What is more, SZU is surrounded by world-renowned high-tech enterprises, which offer students many opportunities for internship and employment. In addition, SZU students will always enjoy the support provided by more than 100,000 alumni who maintain contact. "I believe this is the most important and right choice in your life!" said Li.
Outstanding alumnus Chen Yidan “returns to alma mater to seek answers”
Known for fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, Shenzhen University has cultivated a large number of business elites. It has been recognized as “the no.1 university in creating wealth”. At the 2019 welcome ceremony, Chen Yidan, an outstanding alumnus of 1989 and one of the main founders of Tencent, came back to SZU to search answers to his quest in following his “dream” and shared his thoughts about life with SZU students.
“I’ve come back to my alma mater to seek the answer, that’s because the spirit of Shenzhen university gave me the lifetime nutrition for finding the answers.” Chen recalled that SZU is open-minded and all-embracing. The SZU spirit of being ”down-to-earth" and "self-reliant, self-disciplined and self-strengthening” has been with him ever since, and has become the treasure of life since graduation. He encouraged the younger generation to think deeply and study hard at college, and to live up to “the ideal” by sticking to their genuine beliefs and goals.
Musical performance to welcome new students
After the ceremony, SZU teachers and students delivered an excellent musical performance to welcome the 2019 student cohort.
The chorus “I love you China” touched everyone’s heart, and aroused a deep sense of national identity.Finally, the ceremony ended with a moving performance of a male- female duo singing “Me and my country”.
(Publicity Department)
