Greetings on the Occasion of the Tsinghua University Centennial Celebration
Posted 星期二, 04/26/2011 - 20:18 by Fishville
Richard Levin
Yale President Richard C. Levin April 24, 2011 Beijing, China
President Hu Jintao, President Gu Binglin, distinguished guests, faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends:
It is an honor to bring greetings on behalf of the many universities represented here. And it is a particular honor to reinforce in the presence of China’s leaders the high regard in which Tsinghua is held by universities around the world.
In its first century, Tsinghua has played an integral role in the development of China. Many of its 170,000 graduates have become leaders in their fields. The first two Chinese to be awarded the Nobel Prize – Chen Ning Yang and T. D. Lee – were both educated at Tsinghua. Professor Qian Xuesen, Professor Zhu Guangya, and Professor Qian Sanqiang, among other Tsinghua graduates, have made important contributions to China's scientific development. We at Yale are especially proud of our role in your early history. Four of the first five presidents of Tsinghua studied at Yale.
Everyone who visits Tsinghua is impressed by the rapid pace of investment in new facilities and the growing strength of the faculty. Tsinghua’s contributions in science, engineering,
environment, and sustainable design are known around the world, and its entrepreneurial efforts in educating leaders in business and public policy are much admired. Tsinghua is consistently recognized with the most State Science and Technology Awards of any of China’s universities. Tsinghua has been at the forefront in forging partnerships with institutions around the world. You have longstanding and successful collaborations with MIT, Johns Hopkins, the University of Michigan, and Columbia University. Tsinghua has also been a leader in forging collaborations with industry. You have joint research centers with more than 30 companies, including Toyota, United Technologies, and Boeing.
Yale is fortunate to be Tsinghua’s partner in some of these important collaborations. The
Yale-Tsinghua Program in International Healthcare Management, established in 2009 as part of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women initiative, is providing advanced training to 500 women from rural China. And a Yale-Tsinghua collaboration with the China Association of Mayors is helping municipal leaders meet the challenges of sustainable development in the 21st Century.
Universities around the world salute Tsinghua for its commitment to send its students overseas and to host students from abroad. Over 3,200 Tsinghua students go abroad annually, and each year Tsinghua hosts more than 800 visiting students, in addition to the nearly 2000 who are pursuing their degrees. In this way, Tsinghua is contributing importantly to improving the understanding of China by future leaders around the world and to improving the understanding of the world by
future leaders of China.
Tsinghua’s extraordinary progress is emblematic of a major development that we who represent universities from around the world have been watching with great interest: the rise of China’s universities. As barriers to the flow of people, goods, and information have come down, and as the economic development process proceeds, China has increasing access to the human, physical, and informational resources needed to move its universities to the highest level of excellence. Increasing the quality of education around the world results in better-informed and more
productive citizens. The fate of the planet depends on our ability to collaborate across borders to solve society’s most pressing problems – the persistence of poverty, the prevalence of disease, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the shortage of water, and the danger of global warming. Having better educated citizens and leaders will help us to confront these challenges.
I close by quoting from President Hu’s speech at the National Conference on Education held in Beijing last July.
Education is the cornerstone of national rejuvenation and social progress, and the basic means to improve the all-around development of individuals. It carries hundreds of millions of families’ expectations for a better life.
For 100 years, Tsinghua has been dedicated to fulfilling these expectations. On behalf of the world's universities, I offer heartfelt congratulations to Tsinghua University as it begins a second century in pursuit of a better life for its graduates, and a better world for all humanity.
耶鲁大学校长在清华百年校庆上的致辞 中国大学飞速发展的一个象征 耶鲁大学校长 理查德·莱文 《 人民日报 》（ 2011年04月25日 06 版）
很荣幸代表今天出席大会的各国大学带来对清华百年庆典的祝贺，更有幸的是今 天将和中国国家领导人一起见证世界高校对清华的高度认可。
100年来，清华大学在中国的发展历程中扮演了不可或缺的角色。在清华17万毕 业生中，许多人成为了各行各业的领军人物，这其中有中国国家领导人，首获诺贝尔 奖的两位华人杨振宁和李政道先生也曾在清华学习，清华培养的钱学森、朱光亚、钱 三强等著名学者为中国的科学事业发展作出了突出贡献。耶鲁引以为荣的是，在清华 大学建校初期，两校就有紧密联系，清华的前五任校长中有四位曾在耶鲁学习过。
任何到访清华的人都会对清华的发展速度留下深刻印象。清华在理学、工程、环 境和可持续设计方面世界闻名，获得国家科技成果奖的数量一直位居中国高校榜首， 其在培养商界和公共领袖人物方面的创业努力也令人钦佩。
清华大学也积极与世界各个国家和地区高校建立合作关系，目前有27个与海外大 学建立的联合研究中心。此外，清华还与丰田、联合技术公司和波音公司等30多家跨 国企业建立了联合研究中心。很幸运，耶鲁也是清华一些重要领域的合作伙伴。耶鲁 与清华合作推出中国女性医疗管理领导力培训项目和环境与可持续发展高级干部培训 项目。
世界各国的大学非常钦佩清华在学生海外培养和留学生教育方面所做的努力。每 年清华有超过2500名学生赴海外学习，同时有近2000名学位留学生和800多名访问学 生来清华学习。正是这样的交流，使世界加深了对中国的了解，而中国也加深了对世 界的了解。
今天在座的各国大学校长都以极大的兴趣关注着中国大学的崛起，而清华正是中 国大学飞速发展的一个象征。随着社会经济的不断发展，中国正在越来越多地获取推 进大学向更高层次发展所需的人力、物力和信息资源。中国作出了明智的决定， 集中优势资源重点发展一批高水平院校，吸引世界范围内的高端人才，这将使这些高 水平院校有希望跻身世界一流大学。
欧美一些人认为中国大学的崛起是一种威胁，这是一种短视的看法。正如全球化 一样，教育的竞争是一种共赢博弈。提高全球教育质量将有助于人们扩大知识面和提 高生产力。地球的命运取决于我们打破国界共同解决持续贫穷、疾病蔓延、核武器扩 散、水资源缺乏、全球变暖等人类社会面临的紧迫问题的能力。
我想引用在去年7月中国全国教育工作会议上的讲话来结束今天的发 言：“教育是民族振兴、社会进步的基石，是提高国民素质、促进人的全面发展的根
本途径，寄托着亿万家庭对美好生活的期盼。”
100年来，清华一直致力于实现上述目标。我想代表世界各国大学向清华大学表 达最诚挚的祝贺。她即将走向新的百年，并继续为其毕业生的美好未来和整个人类社 会的美好未来而不懈努力！
