The opening ceremony for the 2020 freshmen of SDU-ANU Joint Science College was held in the Zhixing Hall of Shandong University, Weihai on the afternoon of October 4. Meanwhile it was live streamed via the “Live Cloud” platform of Xinhua News Agency. The whole event was live telecasted by Weihai Evening News Media. The total number of viewers exceeded 22,600.
The ceremony was presided over by Shan Bingbo, Secretary of the Party Committee of SDU-ANU Joint Science College. Professor Liu Jianya, Vice President of Shandong University, President of Shandong University, Weihai as well as Dean of SDU-ANU Joint Science College, Professor Sally Wheeler, Vice President of Australian National University, Professor Lyu Guangshi, Executive Dean of SDU-ANU Joint Science College, Professor Kiaran Kirk, Dean of ANU College of Science, Dr. Sasha Mikheyev, Associate Dean (International) of ANU College of Science, and Professor Bai Ming, the teacher representative, delivered speeches at the ceremony. Professor Kong Haiyan, Director of Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of Shandong University, Weihai, Zheng Youfei, Vice President of Australian Education Management Group, Duan Yucai, Minister of Global Affairs and Partnerships of Australian Education Management Group, all the faculty and staff of SDU-ANU Joint Science College, the 2019 student representatives, and all the 2020 freshmen attended the ceremony. The new students’ parents tuned in to the virtual telecast.
The ceremony started at 14:00 Beijing time. All the teachers and students rose and sang the National Anthem of the People’s Republic of China in unison. Then President Liu Jianya delivered a speech online. He told the students to learn to “respect” and “innovate”. He also encouraged them to always care about the country, keep the college motto in mind, study hard, and realize their own life values in the constant endeavor and enduring struggle for the country and the people.
Professor Sally Wheeler briefly introduced the teaching models in SDU-ANU Joint Science College and acquainted the students with ANU’s excellence, globality, faculty, geographical advantages, teaching environment and so on. He said that Canberra, where the Australian National University is located, was a well-known university city, a safe, friendly and livable city. He expressed his hope to meet the students again on both Weihai and Australian campuses.
Professor Lyu Guangshi introduced the college running situation and put his expectations and demands on the 2020 freshmen present. He said that they were “born at the right time” and faced with new opportunities and higher requirements in the wave of the new technological revolution. He also said that the college would provide a good platform for them and he hoped that they could cherish the precious university time and work hard to perfect their skills so as to make contributions to building China into a leader in science and technology.
Professor Kiaran Kirk introduced the Australian National University from many aspects in his speech entitled “A Leader in Australia”. He stated that mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry were all ANU’s leading disciplines ranking among the top in Australia. He hoped that the students would enter ANU for further study after completing their three-year study in JSC.
Sasha Mikheyev introduced the “3+2” model, the curriculum at ANU and the support and help the students could get. He explained that the courses offered by ANU in China would include but not only Introduction to Science, Abstract Mathematics, Electrostatic Mechanics, Differential Equation Modeling, Physics Experiment Courses, Genetics, etc. After the students entered ANU to study for a master’s degree, they could make achievements in more fields.
Professor Bai Ming pointed out that people might differ in their abilities, but one’s spirit was more precious. The pure and persistent scientific spirit of researching and seeking knowledge was the very basic driving force for progress. All the students should have a correct understanding of the importance of ideas in science. There was no shortcut to science, and they were encouraged to become people with scientific ideas and be courageous to change science with science.
The student representatives, Wang Jiguan from 2019 Applied Chemistry and Mao Yinuo from 2020 Biological Sciences made bilingual speeches respectively, demonstrating fully the excellent qualities of confidence, self-reliance and self-improvement that the college students have.
In addition, a short video recorded by ANU students on campus was played, showing their study and life in the university.
Finally, all the teachers and students rose and sang the university song of Shandong University.
After the ceremony, the students went to the sub-venue of their major in Dianzi Building for the parents meeting organized by the college. Executive Dean Lyu Guangshi, Vice Deans Chang Xiaomei and Bai Ming, and Deputy Party Secretary Fan Qixue from JSC together with the leaders and professors from ANU including Professor Stephen Roberts, Dean of School of Mathematics, Linda Stals, Associate Dean of Teaching, School of Mathematics, Professor Tim Senden, Dean of Institute of Physics, Associate Professor Jong Chow, Director of Master’s Program of Institute of Physics, Professor Penelope Brothers, Dean of Institute of Chemistry, Professor Scott Keogh, Dean of Institute of Biology, and Dr Marcin Adamski, Senior Lecturer of Institute of Biology, were present respectively in the four sub-venues for the freshmen’s parents meeting. The meeting was conducted both online and offline. The students and the professors of JSC in the sub-venues, the professors of ANU and the parents online were all connected via Tencent Meeting. The professors of SDU and ANU detailed the teaching model and future development after graduation to the students and their parents and then answered questions patiently from them.
