The opening ceremony was held in the gymnasium of Xili Lake Campus

On September 13, the Shenzhen Polytechnic University Opening Ceremony 2023 was held in the gymnasium on Xili Campus. President Xu Jianling, Deputy Party Secretary Wang Hui, and Vice Presidents Li Yue, Li Xiaoyuan and Zhang Zuotai attended the ceremony. The heads of secondary schools and functional offices, teachers’ representatives, class advisers’ representatives, freshmen counselors’ representatives and more than 3,000 freshmen representatives from Grade 2023 participated in the event. The rest of the freshmen watched the ceremony online through Wechat video and Bilibili. The ceremony waschaired by Vice President Dong Chaojun.

The warm-up session sang out the vigor and pride of young people in the new era

At 2:00 PM, the warm-up session began, including the songs “Red Sun”, “There is Me”, “Youth in China”, “Together towards the Future”...... singing out the vigor and pride of young people in the new era. The warm-up video “A University without Boundaries” showed the strong school-running confidence of Shenzhen Polytechnic University, and the welcome video “Hello, SZPT” expressed the warm welcome to every new student.

The students sang the national anthem.

At 2:30 PM, the ceremony was officially kicked off after a solemn flag-raising activity, with Xu Jianling presenting awards to freshmen scholarship winners. A total of 20 students received the undergraduate freshman scholarship and 926 received the junior college freshman scholarship this year.

Then, Zhuang Junlin, a student from the School of Medical Technology and Nursing, spoke on behalf of junior college freshmen, who called on the students to be down-to-earth, study hard and forge ahead with youthful enthusiasm. Zhang Luohua, a student from the School of Future Technology, spoke on behalf of undergraduate freshmen, who called on the students to keep growing in the best years, and build a new self of confidence and courage to write wonderful youth chapters in SZPT! Liu Chunwei, as the alumni representative, who graduated from Grade 2009 in the School of Electronic and Communication Engineering, recalled those days of study, and sent a message to the new students, suggesting them to read more books and do more exercises. Yang Jinfeng, as the teacher representative from the School of Artificial Intelligence, encouraged the new students to become the leaders, innovators and decision makers of this era, and hoped that the students would seize the historical opportunity to create a better future for the country and mankind!

Xu Jianling delivered a speech entitled “Pursuing dreams in SZPT and sailing for the future”

At the ceremony, Xu Jianling gave a speech entitled “Pursuing dreams in SZPT and sailing for the future”. He said that Shenzhen is a city that has created miracles and SZPT is a place that lights up dreams. With outstanding teachers, high-quality courses, first-class facilities and pleasant environments, the students will surely have the best careers that live up to their expectations. “Take action in youth”, Xu Jianling hoped that the students could build up a sense of faith, cultivate a high-spirited enterprising spirit, and maintain the persistent action force to move forward without fear on the channel of their dreams, and grow into a vanguard force to promote national rejuvenation, prosperity and world peace as soon as possible!

Afterwards, all the new students stood up and chanted the motto of “advancing with both morality and expertise, striving for self-improvement” three times.

At the end of the ceremony, all the teachers and students waved the five-star red flag and sang “Ode to the Motherland” in chorus, wishing the motherland prosperity and the university greater success.

(Text/ Liu Kaiwei, Youth League Committee; Image/ Zhang Lei, Department of Publicity, Xie Jiakang, Convergence Media Center)

Pursuing Dreams in SZPT and Sailing for the Future

- Speech at the opening ceremony for Grade 2023 freshmen

President Xu Jianling

Dear Grade 2023 new students and teachers,

Good afternoon!

Today, we are holding a grand opening ceremony to welcome 11,353 new students in Grade 2023. Here, on behalf of all the teachers, students and staff of the university, I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations and warm welcome to all the new students! I would also like to extend my cordial greetings and sincere thanks to the parents and teachers who have nurtured and cultivated you wholeheartedly!

Stand high and make a great leapfrog at thirty.Your enrollment coincides with the 30^th anniversary of the founding of SZPT, and you are also the first new students admitted under the name of Shenzhen Polytechnic University. SZPT is the first vocational undergraduate college in China established on the basis of high-quality “dual high” schools since the implementation of the “Setting Standards for Undergraduate Vocational Schools (Trial)” issued by the Ministry of Education. With your enrollment, the university is also setting sail on a new starting point for vocational undergraduate education. Under the high attention of all sectors of society, the university has achieved good enrollment results this year, with 200 new students enrolled for undergraduate education. The score lines of all physics majors are higher than the special control line in Guangdong Province, with the minimum admission score of 555, 16 scores higher than the special control line, achieving a good start of undergraduate construction. Junior college enrollment continues to maintain a leading position in similar colleges and universities. Among the 6368 students enrolled in the summer college entrance examination, the undergraduate pass rate in the province reached 100%.It is our great luck to meet all of you. It is also your luck to be admitted to SZPT! Let’s go forward hand in hand, and on the basis of the brilliant achievements of the previous 30 years, leap forward to create new brilliance through reform and innovation.

Among you, there are Huang Xueming, majoring in electronic information engineering from the School of Undergraduate Education, and Zhuang Junlin, majoring in stomatology from the School of Medical Technology and Nursing. They have entered SZPT with the highest score of 595 for undergraduate admission and 562 for junior college admission respectively, who are looking forward to meeting better themselves here; Chen Yuwei from the School of Electronic and Communication Engineering, who lived a military life for five years and now comes to SZPT for continuing to practice the youth oath of “being ready to build a powerful China”; 15 students who won the first prize in the national vocational skills competition and have chosen SZPT to further their studies and improve their skills; and the first batch of 70 students from Jilin, Hebei and Chongqing, as new members added to the “circle of friends” of SZPT. Your three years of high-school study were spent almost all in the COVID-19. In the midst of extraordinary times, you have experienced the unprecedented test and grown from inexperienced teenagers to into energetic youth; at the moment of receiving the admission notice of SZPT, you have delivered a successful answer for the past three years.

Dreams and aspirations guide heroes forward. Today, as you come from all directions of the motherland and gather together in Shenzhen, you will once again raise the sail of your dreams toward a wider world. When dreams and reality converge, what you see, hear and feel in Shenzhen and SZPT will surely exceed your imagination of the ideal city and the ideal university.

Shenzhen is a city that has created miracles.The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is one of the most open and economically dynamic regions in China, generating 12% of the country’s total economic output with less than 1% of the land area. As the core engine of the Greater Bay Area, Shenzhen was a small border town dotted with sheds 43 years ago, and now has risen to become an international metropolis with global influence, endowed with the historic task of building a pilot demonstration zone of socialism with Chinese characteristics.It has thepioneering DNA of the Special Administrative Region, the speed of Shenzhen that “makes a building in three days”, and the openness and inclusiveness that “You become Shenzhen people at the moment of stepping onto this land”. This is a city surrounded by mountains and seas, with picturesque scenery throughout the four seasons and full of vitality. Most importantly, there are thousands of dream pursuers who are working hard and marching together with you on the road to realizing their dreams.

SZPT is a place that lights up dreams.Thirty years ago, along with Deng Xiaoping’s southern tour, Shenzhen Polytechnic was founded. As one of the earliest colleges in China to independently organize higher vocational and technical education, we adhere to the motto of “advancing with both morality and expertise, striving for self-improvement” and the spirit of “being pragmatic, dedication, innovation and excellence”, and constantly innovate the education and teaching concept, school-running system and mechanism, and talent training mode, creating a number of “No. 1” and continuously leading the development of China’s higher vocational education. SZPT was selected as one of the first national demonstration schools and “dual high” Grade-A construction units, and won more than 100 national awards such as teaching achievement awards and textbook construction awards, ranked first in the competitiveness list of China’s higher vocational colleges and universities for eight consecutive years, becoming a “flag” of national higher vocational education. With 30 years of development, the infinite splendor of SZPT is expected to be experienced by everyone of you in the future.

Here, you will have outstanding teachers.Among the 1,632 full-time teachers, 42.59% have doctorate degrees, including national famous teachers, national teaching teams, national technical experts and other high-level talents. You also have the opportunity to hear the teachings from the Nobel Prize team and academician team face to face. Here, you can have high-quality courses.The university has won 16 national teaching achievement awards in the past three times, 110 textbooks have been selected into the list of national vocational education planning textbooks, and 817 “golden courses” have been specially designed, so that you can enjoy the ocean of knowledge.Here, you will have first-class facilities.At present, the university has more than 70,000 sets of teaching and research equipment, with a total value of 1.836 billion yuan, covering various disciplines, far exceeding that of similar colleges and universities, creating first-class conditions for you to improve your practical training and experimental skills.Here, you will have pleasant environments.The university has three campuses, i.e. Xili, Shenshen and OCT, covering an area of 4,024 mu. The main campus of Xili has nine canteens, sports venues covering an area of 100,000 square meters and four libraries with a collection of 4.34 million volumes. You can certainly appreciate the infinite charm of first-class campuses in China when you take a look at them with your feet.Here, you can have the best careers that live up to their expectations.In the past three years, the average employment rate of graduates from the university has reached more than 98%, and the proportion of graduates employed by leading enterprises including Global 500 has reached 29%, with the average salary being 31% higher than the average level of “dual high” colleges and universities, and 17% of graduates have successfully pursued further studies. Our state-level schools and 26 off-campus practice bases for innovation and entrepreneurship can also provide reliable guidance for students with entrepreneurial dreams.

“Take action in youth.”Dear students, as the first freshmen of Shenzhen Polytechnic University, you shoulder the high expectations from the university, parents and society. At the important moment when you are about to start a new journey in life, as a teacher, I sincerely hope that you can make efforts in three aspects in the next few years at SZPT, cherish your youth, strive for success, and set sail for your dreams.

First, establish a sense of faith for success.Faith is a beacon to guide people to success. It has the power to inspire people and never slack off. Faith begins with passion. Song Mingliang, a senior student, with his passion for automobile technology, studied hard and practiced his skills. In 2022, he won the silver medal in the automobile technical segment of the first World Vocational College Skills Competition, showing the style of SZPT students on the world stage. I hope you can also find the light in your heart on the road of youth with firm ideals and beliefs. Faith also comes from the mission. Today, the baton of the times has been handed to the hands of the young generation. I hope you can find the coordinates of life in the great journey of building a strong country and national rejuvenation, establish lofty aspirations, firmly follow the road of becoming skilled talents to serve the country, and contribute your wisdom to building a powerful China.

Second, cultivate an enterprising spirit.The university is a new starting point in life. “Learning is like sailing against the current. If you don’t advance, you will fall back.” I hope you will ask yourself to be a first-class SZPT member, maintain the striving attitude and continue to climb a new peak in life. Deng Qiuting, a senior student, joined BGI after graduating from the major of pharmaceutical biotechnology (formerly called biotechnology and application) in 2016. She insists on learning while working. In 2019, she was admitted to the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences to pursue a master’s degree in biological engineering, and now she has published 5 papers in Nature and other international academic journals and obtained 1 national invention patent. Yang Shunzhi, another senior student, graduated from the major of medical electronic engineering in 2015, and spent 8 years to pursue his doctorate in South China Normal University. Now he has returned to SZPT and become a teacher here, using his personal experience to inspire more students to pursue their dreams bravely. Every shine is behind the quiet efforts that are not known. In the past three years, 4 of the SZPT guards have been admitted to the master’s degree of HIT and other universities, and they are widely talked about on campus. I hope you will follow their example, strive for self-improvement, and write your own extraordinary youth chapter.

Third,maintain the persistent action force.Dear students, you have just experienced the baptism of the college entrance examination, and might be looking forward to setting yourself free in the new world, but I want to remind you here that the opportunity is always left to those who make good preparations; in the absence of the daily supervision of teachers and parents around, it is a bigger test over everyone’s ability of self-discipline and perseverance. I hope you cherish the good years of youth, put the enthusiasm for the dream into practical action, develop good learning and living habits, and make a better self. “Learning is the basis for your whole life.” You should keep making study your top priority, complete the prescribed courses, actively expand the horizon and boundaries of learning, constantly accumulate knowledge and broaden insight, laying a solid foundation for future development. I hope you will respect life, work and rest regularly, eat healthily, and exercise more to build up a strong body. I hope you will keep books as your companions, get close to nature, make good friends, care for your family, pursue inner abundance, and always maintain a healthy, optimistic, confident and upward spirit.

“Never stop pursuing your dreams.” Dear students, today we are happy to gather here, and tomorrow you will become pillars of our country! I sincerely hope that all of you will brave the waves and move forward fearlessly on the channel of your dreams, and grow into a vanguard force for national rejuvenation, prosperity and world peace at an earlier date!

Thank you!