Shenzhen University 2023 graduation ceremony,attended by Li Qingquan, secretary of the Party Committee of SZU, Mao Junfa, president of SZU and Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fan Dianyuan and Chen Xiangsheng, Academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Tu Hongyan, representative of distinguished alumni, representative of National People’s Congress and Chairman of Winsome Group, was held at Shenzhen Bay Sports Center, also known as Spring Cocoon Gymnasium, on the afternoon of July 2.
Duringthe ceremony, Li Qingquan presented the commendation certificates to the representatives of outstanding graduates. Mao Junfa awarded the degree certificates to the recipients of bachelor's, master's, doctoral degrees, as well as honorary degrees.
The graduation ceremony is of an unprecedented scale in SZ history, also the largest one since the establishment of SZU in 1983. It hosted more than 10,000 SZU graduates and their families, teachers, classmates, and friends.
After having their tassels moved, Class 2023 SZUers will embark on their new journeys, starting from the vibrant Shenzhen Bay, devoting themselves to the development of the Greater Bay Area, and making distributions to the motherland while embracing the world.
In 2023, the number of research students graduating from SZU increased sharply, reaching a total of 4,052, of which 86 are PhD students and 3966 are master students, which marks a year-on-year growth of 43%. This year's research students are enrolled in 12 first-level doctoral and 41 academic master's degree programs and 51 professional master's degree programs.
The quality of postgraduate training has been steadily improved, with 153 postgraduates being awarded the National Scholarship, 5 receiving the Liyan Excellent Student Scholarship, 45 obtaining the Pengcheng Scholarship and Tencent Founder's Innovation Scholarship, 212 receiving the Outstanding Postgraduate Cadre Scholarship, and 341 being titled Outstanding Graduating Postgraduates. In terms of innovation ability, the Class of 2023 postgraduate students received 113 awards in various disciplinary competitions, including 63 international and national awards and 41 provincial awards. The doctoral students published 249 academic papers as the first author, authored 2 monographs, and applied for or participated in the application of 29 patents. In terms of employment, as of June 20, over 50% of the research students had signed contracts with enterprises including Huawei, BYD, Tencent, Ping An, while 19.7% chose to work in public institutions.
SZU also sees a total of 6,615 full-time undergraduate graduates in 2023. By June 20, 5,232 full-time undergraduate students in total had completed their major studies in accordance with the teaching requirements and received their certificates of graduation. Some students will obtain their diplomas and bachelor's degrees after meeting pertinent requirements of teaching plans and final examinations this semester.
Among the undergraduate graduates who have been given the graduation qualifications, 5,232 obtained bachelor's degrees, 201 were awarded honorary bachelor's degrees, 140 received bachelor's degrees in minors, and 132 obtained certificates in minors. This year, 314 undergraduate students qualified as exempted students. Up to now, 1,777 students have been admitted to master's degree programs at prestigious universities and research institutes at home and abroad, including Tsinghua University, Peking University, Oxford University, Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, accounting for 27.41% of total undergraduate students, an increase of 2.23% compared to last year. The Class of 2023 won 808 awards in several different academic competitions, including 26 international awards, 290 national awards, and 492 provincial- and ministerial- level awards. There are 324 students who were named Shenzhen University's Excellent Undergraduate Graduates, and 1,173 students who have joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) during their studies at SZU. In addition, 2,489 students were awarded bachelor's degrees in adult higher education.
Tu Hongyan, the distinguished alumni representative, addressed the graduates at the ceremony. "Shenzhen, a city full of innovation andenthusiasm, has seen our dreams come true. And my Alma mater, Shenzhen University,was where I started to pursue my dreams,"she said.Thirtyyearsago,Tu began her studyinSZU.From that moment her life became inextricably bound up with Shenzhen. She later found her better half here and theytogetherpassed on the tradition of Chinese silk,ultimatelyachieving the dream of going public for their business.
Tu Hongyan returned to her alma mater with great excitement. She emphasized three things to the younger students who were about to leave the campus: being brave, remaining calm, maintaining lifelong learning. She encouraged the graduatestolearn to accept and solve problems, let go of anxiety and groundless expectations, and fully focus on every small task at hand. "We should believe that our alma mater and teachers have given us the resilience, and opportunities will provide us with the strength to move forward. By calming down, we can steer our lives in a stable direction,"she said.
Qiu Tong, a PhD graduate from theCollege of Civil and Transportation Engineering, delivered a speech on behalf of all2023graduates. "At Shenzhen University, dreams can come true, and tears can turn sweet!" HesaidthatSZUcampus holds the memories of his youthful years spent pursuing dreams. He proudly walked out of Liyuan, another name for SZU, with his research achievements. He haspublishedover ten SCI papers as the first author,includingsixpapersin top journals, and holdedsix invention patents. Behind these accomplishments were numerous nights of struggle and the dawn of breakthroughs after relentlessscientificexploration.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Shenzhen University, and Qiu takes pride in his alma mater's longstanding commitment to high-level construction and serving the nation's major strategic initiatives. Hesaid, "I am honored that my research is closely related to the development of national infrastructure. I dream that one day my scientific research results will turn into engineering practice, contributing to the construction of the motherland. Such passion makes the blood boil in today's youth like me."
Qiu also urged all graduates to embody "SZU empathy and magnanimity", which means always helping those in need with a compassionate heart, being individuals who insist lifelong study and perform good deeds.
During the ceremony, SZU honored over 40 companies as the "Best Employers"for their recognition of SZU students and provision of high-level entrepreneurship platform forSZUstudents. Renowned firms such as Huawei, BYD,Tencent, ZTE, China Resource Group,China Construction Bank(Shenzhen)and so on were among the recipients. According tothe data, these companies recruited more than 3,000 SZU graduates between 2018 and 2022.
The ceremony ended with the Chinese song Zaijian, which means goodbye. It is time forthe 2023 graduatesto say goodbye, buttheirstorieswillnever end. Class of 2023, work hard! Be smart! And happy! The world is your oyster.
