Message for Tsinghua University’s 115th Anniversary

Qiu Yong, Secretary of the CPC Tsinghua University Committee, and Li Luming, President of Tsinghua University

April brings spring vitality to Tsinghua, filling every corner of the campus with warmth and hope. As Tsinghua approaches its 115th anniversary, we, on behalf of the University, extend our warm greetings and best wishes to alumni at home and abroad, and to all faculty, staff, and students. We also express our heartfelt gratitude to friends from all sectors who have supported the University’s development over the years.

Ten years ago, in 2016, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, sent a congratulatory letter on the 105th anniversary of Tsinghua University, urging the University to embrace the world, strive to excel, build confidence, preserve its distinctiveness, and cultivate more talents needed by the nation and the people. Five years ago, in 2021, General Secretary Xi visited Tsinghua and stressed that the University, upholding its motto of “Self-Discipline and Social Commitment,” had deepened reform, accelerated innovation, and achieved flourishing progress in all its undertakings. Its scientific and technological innovations were closely aligned with the needs of national development, demonstrating the courage and sense of responsibility of the people of Tsinghua. Bearing General Secretary Xi’s earnest expectations firmly in mind, faculty, staff, and students across the University have strengthened their awareness of serving as a “flagship” and a “benchmark,” and have pressed ahead with determination and unity. Through 115 years of perseverance, Tsinghua has grown in confidence and composure through its conviction that actions speak louder than words, and has remained full of vitality by upholding fundamental principles and breaking new ground.

In line with traditional Chinese wisdom, the perceptive discern the trend, the wise adapt to it, and the resolute shape it. In 2025, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was held, setting out a broad blueprint for China’s development over the next five years. Tsinghua University brought the 14th Five-Year Plan to a successful close and made thoughtful preparations for the 15th Five-Year Plan. Across the University, all areas of work have shown a new outlook, fresh momentum, and new achievements.

Tsinghua has always placed student development first. Over the past year, the University has remained steadfast in its commitment to nurturing a new generation capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation. It has vigorously advanced the reform and innovation of ideological and political courses. More than 3.6 million students from over 420 universities took Tsinghua’s Situation and Policy course together, and the University took the lead nationwide in offering Social Practice for the Ideological and Political Education as a required course. It also published the first set of teaching materials in the Series on Ideological and Political Theory Courses for the New Era, offering a Tsinghua approach to some of the key challenges in this field.

The University further developed its distinctive residential college system with Chinese characteristics, establishing four new residential colleges — Wuqiong College, Zijing College, Ziqiang College, and Shuimu College. 56 percent of undergraduates entering in 2025 were admitted to residential colleges. A total of 265 courses were selected as national first-class undergraduate courses, and the University received 21 awards at the Second National Outstanding Teaching Materials Awards. Tsinghua has continued to deepen AI-empowered teaching and learning, building more than 440 AI-empowered courses, improving its general AI curriculum, releasing the Guiding Principles for the Application of Artificial Intelligence in Education, and issuing vouchers to students to encourage them to take the lead in mastering AI. Centered on Qing Xiaoda, the student growth assistant, the University has been building an ecosystem of intelligent agents and using AI to help create a student support model that spans the full cycle of development and a wide range of scenarios.

The University has also vigorously promoted innovation and entrepreneurship education. It won the “Challenge Cup” for the eighth time and, for the first time, claimed the championship in the RoboCup Humanoid League Adult Size championship. Upholding the tradition of “No Sports, No Tsinghua,” the University generally schedules no classes during the fifth period to encourage physical exercise. Tsinghua students achieved their best-ever result at the National Games, winning seven gold, five silver, and six bronze medals, and set a record with 16 consecutive championships at the Beijing University Students Track and Field Games. The University also places strong emphasis on aesthetic education, with students winning gold awards for original works at the Beijing College Student Drama Festival and Dance Festival. It also fosters labor education, with more than 390 classes and groups taking part in labor activities. For 16 consecutive years, more than 80 percent of graduates have gone on to work in key sectors and major institutions, and large numbers of young Tsinghua students have gone where the nation needs them most to make their contributions.

Tsinghua strives to ensure that on this campus, learning from outstanding teachers is not a matter of chance, but a natural part of student life. Over the past year, the University has continued to implement its core strategy of strengthening the University through talent, building Tsinghua into a place that attracts leading minds from around the world and where they feel truly at home. Internationally renowned scholars, including Charles M. Lieber, Liu Jun, and Seeram Ramakrishna, joined Tsinghua as full-time faculty members. Ten faculty members were elected academicians in 2025, including nine members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Chinese Academy of Engineering and one foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Two faculty members were selected for the fourth cohort of Tsinghua University’s Distinguished Professors of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Wang Xiaoyun received the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Award, Xu Tiantian received the Wolf Prize in Architecture, and Kenji Fukaya received the Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences. Faculty, staff, and students across the University deeply mourned the passing of Prof. Chen Ning Yang and honored his scientific spirit, deep commitment to the nation, and noble character. The University also highlighted exemplary teachers, and the teaching team in criminal law and judicial reform and innovation was selected as a National Huang Danian-style Teaching Team in Higher Education Institutions. Teachers at Tsinghua remain on the front line of teaching and nurturing students, striving to be true mentors who guide them in learning, in conduct, and in character.

Tsinghua has always been guided by service to the nation and dedication to the people. Over the past year, the University has drawn renewed vitality from reform and strengthened its capacity to support and contribute to high-quality development. It has steadily advanced further comprehensive reform, convened its first university-wide forum on education, science, and technology, and talent, and introduced a series of measures with a strong reform focus. It established the School of Education to build a leading center for educational research and thought. The University established an AI hospital and, with the support of the Beijing municipal government, has moved forward with the development of a medical campus. It established the Yajiang Research Institute and has given its full support to the hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River. The University also co-launched the AI Open Alliance, with its secretariat based at Tsinghua, to jointly undertake major national AI research tasks. The University also introduced an action plan to support the development of a leading country in culture and implemented opinions to contribute to the development of a strong financial system.

High-level innovation has continued to emerge. The University reported, for the first time, a new phenomenon in which an in-plane magnetic field enhances the quantum anomalous Hall effect; developed and prototyped a 12-inch wafer-scale high performance AI chip; and pioneered a new strategy for the artificial design of plant disease-resistance genes. Tsinghua also took the lead in major Ministry of Education projects on building independent knowledge systems in philosophy, public administration, and design. Tsinghua’s Laboratory of Computational Social Science and State Governance was selected as one of the first national philosophy and social science laboratories, further strengthening the influence of Tsinghua’s humanities and social sciences. In serving the development of the capital in the new era, the first two national key laboratories were established at the Nankou National Key Laboratory Base, and the Institute for Embodied Intelligence and Robotics was inaugurated. Tsinghua also signed strategic cooperation agreements with eight centrally administered state-owned enterprises and launched pilot programs to deepen collaboration with local governments, demonstrating how scientific and technological innovation can serve economic and social development.

Tsinghua remains committed to openness. Over the past year, the University has advanced both “bringing in” and “going global” in a coordinated way, further enhancing its public impact and global reputation. In the presence of the heads of state of China and Russia, Tsinghua exchanged a cooperation agreement with Russian institutions. Three cooperation agreements with Russian partners and two with Vietnamese partners were also included in the official outcome lists of the respective state visits. The University further expanded its global strategic presence with the establishment of the Tsinghua University Africa Center in Kenya. The number of international experts and scholars visiting Tsinghua for exchanges rose by 29 percent year on year, and the number of faculty, staff, and students sent abroad on official business reached a record high.

The University continued to host high-level forums such as the World Peace Forum, the World Health Forum, and the Global MOOC and Online Education Conference. It also released the Mexico City Declaration, which calls for joint efforts to build a smart education community. Tsinghua has continued to strengthen the Asian Universities Alliance and the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate, giving Chinese higher education a stronger voice on the world stage and contributing to its growing global presence.

Tsinghua remains unwavering in upholding the Party’s leadership. Over the past year, the University has upheld and strengthened the Party’s overall leadership, using high-quality Party building to guide high-quality development. It carried out in depth the study and implementation of the spirit of the eight-point decision on improving Party and government conduct, and took the initiative in launching five targeted actions, including efforts to address practical day-to-day issues affecting faculty, staff, and students. The University also implemented a special initiative to raise the quality of Party building, further translating the Party’s overall leadership into concrete practice, strengthening institutional mechanisms for integrating Party building with the University’s core work, and promoting lasting, rigorous Party self-governance.

The University continued to improve work conduct with sustained effort, comprehensively strengthened the performance and service culture of administrative offices, logistics departments, and other units, and improved its one-stop integrated service system. It also continued public communication initiatives, including the “Tsinghua People Serving the Nation” series, to share Tsinghua’s stories with wider society. The University carried forward its proud revolutionary traditions and commemorated the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the 90th anniversary of the December 9th Movement. It continued to deepen full and rigorous Party self-governance, carried out systematic efforts to address prominent issues in higher education, and treated follow-through on inspection findings as an important lever for advancing high-quality development. In doing so, it has worked to uphold a clean and upright campus environment and to inspire faculty, staff, and students to take responsibility and strive for excellence with even greater energy and purpose.

This year marks the opening of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, as well as the 115th anniversary of Tsinghua University and the centenary of the CPC Tsinghua Committee. At this pivotal historical moment, connecting past achievements with future aspirations, the people of Tsinghua will carry forward their spirit of endeavor, stay focused on their goals, strengthen their confidence, and build on the momentum ahead. They will continue writing a new chapter in the development of a world-class university with Chinese characteristics, and strive to make new and greater contributions to building a strong nation and advancing national rejuvenation.

In the gentle warmth of spring, all life flourishes. This anniversary is a joyous occasion shared by every member of the Tsinghua community, and Tsinghua will forever remain a dear and enduring home for its alumni. We warmly welcome all alumni back to their alma mater.