河北大学校长康乐在我院首届毕业典礼英文致辞
Distinguished guests, Minister Counsellor Tom Child, Vice-Chancellors Liz Bromley and Tim Steele, Vice Director-general Wang Tingshan, students, teachers, ladies and gentlemen, Good morning！
I am honoured to be with you today to celebrate the First Graduation Ceremony for the HBU-UCLan School of Media, Communication and Creative Industries. This school was established by Hebei University and the University of Central Lancashire (UK), and then approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2013. We saw the first cohort of students enroll in September 2014. Today is a memorable and wonderful day, because it is special event for the first group to graduate from this Sino-UK co-operation in Hebei Province.
Currently in HBU-UCLan, there are 668 students and 96 graduating. From this first group of students, 52 from the 96 have received postgraduate study offers. These offers include UCL, UOA London, University of Glasgow, University of Central Lancashire, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Communication University of China, Shanghai Jiaotong University, and other well-known Universities across the world. The high ratio of postgraduate study offers for the first graduating cohort of students directly reflects the international dimensions within this high quality education experience. I also understand that five of the graduates have received three degrees concurrently having studied for an additional degree in international trade from Hebei University at the same time. What’s more, in the "Challenge Cup", "Internet Plus", "The Youth" and other influential competitions, our students won these most distinctive prizes in Hebei Province, and then subsequently won two national awards. In the "Golden Calf Award" design competition, "National College Students Advertising Competition" and other national discipline competitions, our students also displayed high-level outcomes. This year, three graduating students won one of the world's most prestigious design awards, the "Yellow Pencil" British global creative award from the Designers and Art Directors Society. Students also participated in the Cannes Film Festival this year.
Students philanthropic engagement is also important, not only to allow them to actively participate in relieving poverty in Hebei province, but also to use their own muti-lingual advantages to participate in the international volunteer teaching services successfully in other countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bali (Indonesia).
In the past four years, the HBU-UCLan School of Media, Communication and Creative Industries has developed in leaps and bounds, with the quality of outcomes improving year by year. This reflects the establishment of high educational values. Of these achievements, thanks to the enthusiasm of both the universities’ teaching teams, their open-minded educational values, the international exchange of a distinctive education philosophy, the schools’ pioneering spirit, and the unremitting efforts of the English Language teaching team, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the teaching and administration teams of the two universities.
Since its establishment, Hebei University has cultivated more than 300,000 outstanding students and alumni through the world. Today, Hebei University is striving towards building a high-level comprehensive university which has distinctive features and a high international reputation. It has always been considered important that Schools within the university vigorously develop international exchanges and cooperation. Hebei University has established cooperation with more than 100 universities in the world. It is one of the most significant universities for training and research for overseas students under the Ministry of Education, and the first university with the authority to receive Chinese government scholarship students in Hebei province.
I have several aspirations for you, today’s graduating students at this Graduation Ceremony, and would like to highlight the following things that I addressed within a speech I gave at the main campus last week:
---Always be patient in pursuing truth.
-- Always keep thinking independently.
---Always keep your courage to be creative and innovative.
-- Always think nationally and internationally.
Dear students, you are in your prime, and you are at the beginning of long and hopefully successful careers. Today, you are the first students to graduate from the HBU-UClan School of Media, Communication and Creative Industries, I hope you will practice high ideals and achieve great things. We have several important global challenges as we enter the mid 21stCentury, and it is important that our graduates have the skills, abilities and creative capacities to improve people’s lives, and create better and more prosperous and peaceful societies. Your task will be to use your skills and growing professional abilities to meet those tasks, and create a better World.
I also hope that Hebei University and the University of Central Lancashire can develop even closer collaboration with HBU, in the areas of teaching, research, entrepreneurship, innovation and other aspects which help develop new products and services. We will look forward to further discussions as to how we further develop a mutually prosperous collaborative model for Chinese-UK collaboration, and continue to develop new subject and research initiatives.
I also hope the collaboration between HBU and University of Central Lancashire will become a model for cross cultural co-operation across the Western and Asian world, through the establishment of creative and flexible modes for high level teaching and research, which also have the distinction of combining strong cross cultural and multi-national dimensions. I look forward to the next phase of this fantastic partnership, and seeing the very best of creative talent developed through this strong and distinctive UK and China collaboration.
Thank you!
(康乐，河北大学校长，中国科学院院士，2018年6月25）