The new year’s bell is ringing as we knock on the door of 2018 together, and at this moment of bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new, we would like to extend our most sincere New Year’s greetings on behalf of the University to our students, current and retired faculty and staff, domestic and overseas alumni, and friends who have joined our endeavors and continue to support Sun Yat-sen University.

2017 has been a year of special significance in the course of the Party and the country’s development. The 19th CPC National Congress was successfully held, and the guiding position of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was established. This has created a mighty force that will enable us to realize the Chinese Dream, sounded a clarion call urging us to strive for the great success of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, and inaugurated a new journey to fully build a modern socialist China.

2017 has also been a crucial year for the development of Sun Yat-sen University. The University held the 13th Congress of Party Representatives, whereby we carefully summarized the work and experience of the past five years, objectively analyzed the opportunities and challenges for the development of the University in the new era, clarified the advancing orientation of “building a world-class university rooted in China”, and embarked on a new journey of pursuing new goals and realizing new leap-forward development.

Looking back at 2017, the University has always maintained a high degree of consistency with the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. Under the correct leadership of the CPC Leading Group of the Ministry of Education and the care and guidance of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, with great support from all circles of the society and the spirit of seizing the hour, the University has continued to move ahead and accomplish fruitful results, and has been included in the national Double First-Class Initiative by means of these outstanding achievements.

In 2017, the University has implemented the fundamental task of nurturing virtue and talents, built an academic atmosphere for studying at SYSU and pursuing excellence, put forward the construction of a talent cultivation system which integrates undergraduate education with postgraduate education, innovated on educational models, and improved the quality of education. The University has maintained the key position of disciplinary construction, advanced the inseparable development of disciplines and majors, and enhanced the planning and implementation of disciplinary construction. The University has adhered to the “three orientations”, promoted the “three big constructions”, and increased its ability to undertake major strategic tasks and research innovations. Both the number of projects funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China, and the number of projects funded by the Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Program have leaped to first among universities nationwide. The number of projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China ranked second, and the number of projects supported by the National Key R&D Program ranked fourth among universities nationwide. The University has adopted the “talent doubling” plan, pushed forward the introduction and nurturing of high level talents, and introduced over 3,000 talents of various kinds in the past three years, providing a talent foundation for the “leap-forward” internal development in the new era. The University has persisted in deepening comprehensive reform, promoted the implementation of the tasks laid out under the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, continuously honed internal management systems, and accelerated the construction of a modern university system.

A new start brings new opportunities, and a new journey opens the door for new magnificence. In 2018, Sun Yat-sen University will enter a new era of comprehensively building a world-class university with Chinese characteristics. The course has been charted, and the winds of progress are lifting our sails. Let us study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress, implement the strategic arrangement of the University’s 13th Congress of Party Representatives, keep our mission firmly in mind, carry forward the cause and forge ahead into the future, make concerted efforts, carry out reforms and become stronger, be firmly rooted in China, accelerate our steps into the first tier of universities nationwide, and forge ahead to realize SYSUers’dream of entering the forefront of world-class universities.

May the New Year bring health, happiness, and success to our faculty and staff, students, alumni, and friends!

Sun Yat-sen University will have an even brighter tomorrow!

CHEN Chunsheng   LUO Jun
December 31, 2017