Opening Ceremony Held for GDUFS 2015 Graduate Students

On the morning of September 15th, an opening ceremony and the conveyance of campus information was held for the 2015 graduate students, at Yunshan Hall on the North Campus. School leaders, tutors of the graduate students and about 900 graduate students attended the ceremony.

As the graduate students took their seats, they began learning to sing the university anthem. Students learned very carefully, singing with great passion. When the school leaders and tutors arrived, students stood up and applauded to welcome them. The opening ceremony was presided over by SHI Youqi, Vice President of GDUFS, where he announced the beginning of the ceremony.

Students singing the university anthem

Firstly, President ZHONG Weihe gave a speech. He extended a warm welcome to all the graduate students. He indicated that GDUFS was going to celebrate its 50th anniversary and would continue to explore new areas of development. Too, he hoped that fresher students enjoy studying in GDUFS and achieve their own dreams by sticking to the motto of GDUFS: “Pursuit of Integrity, Practice and Cross-cultural Learning”. The road of academic exploration and creation is never easy, thus students should prepare themselves for the challenges ahead. President ZHONG encouraged the students by characterizing the university’s expectations into four statements: maintaining peace of mind, focusing on studying, the pursuing of truth and stepping forward. He used many examples and mottos, both at home and abroad. He even turned the saying “you are what you eat” into “you are what you are doing”, to demonstrate the importance of practice and perseverance.

President ZHONG give a speech

Following this was the speech given by Professor HE Jianing of the Faculty of Business English, who was the same age as GDUFS and had gained his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctor’s degree at GDUFS. Now he is a tutor of the graduate students, sharing a lot of researching methods with them.

After that, the representative of the doctoral students, LIU Yang, and the representative of the postgraduate students, GUO Lindong, delivered their speeches. They expressed their gratitude to GDUFS and their happiness of studying at GDUFS.

Lastly, all of the graduate students made a vow, with their hands put near their heads. They promised to carry on the university’s motto: taking responsibilities, respecting science, studying with honesty, seeking truth, keeping dreaming and practicing themselves.

GUO Lindong led students to make a vow

A panoramic view of the ceremony