On the evening of September 11, Beijing time, the Welcome Ceremony 2021 of Zhejiang University - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institute (ZJUI) was held in the Auditorium, International Campus, Zhejiang University. All the first-year undergraduates, graduates, and exchange students from UIUC participated. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UIUC guests and parents of students who were unable to attend on-site participated in the ceremony online. Prof. OUYANG Hongwei, Dean of the International Campus, Zhejiang University, Prof. Andreas Cangellaris, Vice Chancellor and Provost of UIUC, Prof. Rashid Bashir, Dean of the Grainger College of Engineering at the UIUC, Prof. MA Hao, Vice Dean of ZJUI and other guests from two universities attended and delivered speeches in China and the United States.
▲ Professor OUYANG Hongwei, Dean of the International Campus, ZJU was delivering the speech
Prof. Ouyang Hongwei pointed out in his speech that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the formal partnership between Zhejiang University and UIUC, as well as the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the International Campus. On this occasion, he expressed his sincere gratitude to UIUC partners for their unwavering trust and continuous support. In the past five years, the international campus and ZJUI have been committed to improving the quality of cooperative education and optimizing the international education environment. In education and research, ZJUI operate in a global context with UIUC, bringing the world to ZJU and students and faculty to the world. He extended a warm welcome to all the new students and exchange students, and encouraged them to meet the global challenges with an international perspective, national feelings and professional skills. He emphasized the significance of learning, being unyielding and taking responsibility.
▲Professor Andreas Cangellaris, Vice Chancellor and Provost of UIUC, was delivering the speech
Prof. Andreas Cangellaris took CHU Kochen, an alumnus of the two universities, as an example to describe the two universities' hardworking, striving, pioneering. He said that in UIUC's 150-year history, it is not uncommon to collaborate with other universities, but ZJUI is unique among them. It’s the first comprehensive joint venture that encompasses all UIUC’s pillars of education, research, service and economic development. This unique education model encourages students to take interdisciplinary teamwork as the basis, take design and project as the guidance, and take learning, practice and creation as the way to actively explore and achieve life business.
▲ Professor Rashid Bashir, Dean of the Grainger College of Engineering at the UIUC, was delivering the speech
Prof. Rashid Bashir talked about the world-changing inventions of the prominent alumnus of the Grainger College of Engineering at the UIUC and expressed his hope to the students. He said that after entering ZJUI, students, who will be engineers in the future, rise to the challenge of innovation and have a full study life. The two universities will give the greatest support and work together to fulfill the mission.
▲ Professor MA Hao, Vice Dean of ZJUI was delivering the speech
Prof. MA Hao expressed his warm welcome and heartfelt appreciations to all the students and their parents. He pointed out that ZJUI aims at cultivating future-oriented international engineers, and carries out international cooperative training of engineering innovation through high-level Sion-foreign cooperation and interdisciplinary communication. After five years of practice, ZJUI has creatively accomplished the breakthrough of "4+0" training mode in China based on cooperation of top universities in China and the U.S., and the first two cohorts of graduates have achieved fruitful results. He also told the freshmen to be independent, and dare to explore and practice, so as to cultivate outstanding innovation and practice ability, excellent international communication ability, strong sense of family and country and lofty responsibility.
▲ Freshman TANG Feiyu, Exchange student JING Qinpeng, Parent ZHANG Guifen were speaking
Mr. TANG Feiyu, the freshman representative, expressed his joy to join ZJUI and his expectation for future learning career. He encouraged all students to actively try and bravely go out of their comfort zone. Mr. Jing Qinpeng, the representative of exchange students, thanked the two universities and appreciated the first-class resources and diverse atmosphere which he enjoyed in ZJUI during the year. He also proposed some suggestions for freshmen like asking questions in time. MS. ZHANG Guifen, the mother of Kang Zhaoyu, represented parents to express her pride and expectation to the young students. She hoped that they could work hard and make preparations for the future challenges.
The UIUC and ZJUI faculty members introduced themselves and their teaching courses one by one through online and offline interaction. They welcomed the new students and raised high expectations for them, encouraging them to be brave in practice and innovation.
The freshmen also put on a wonderful performance in the welcoming ceremony, which ended in thunderous applause.
Prof. LI Erping, Vice Dean of International Campus, Prof. WANG Yufen, Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party Committee of International Campus, Prof. LI Hanying, Acting Vice Dean of ZJUI, Prof. JIN Jianming, Executive Dean of ZJUI; Prof. CHEN Xiangrong, Vice Dean of ZJUI; Prof. YANG Geng, Assistant Dean of School of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. CHEN Xiqun, Deputy Dean of Department of Civil Engineering, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture from ZJU and Prof. Reitumetse O. Mabokela, Vice Provost (International Affairs and Globalization Strategy), Prof. Philippe Geubelle, Executive Associate Dean of the Grainger College of Engineering, Prof. Jonathan Makela, Associate Dean and Professor in the Grainger College of Engineering, Prof. Philip Krein, Director of the ZJU-UIUC Joint Research Center from UIUC attended the ceremony.
