HUST New Year Message 2023

Party Secretary: Zhao Lin;President: Liu Xia

Translated byLei Junguang；Edited byWeizhinan, PangBaokun

Teachers, students, alumni,and friends:

As spring is approaching, everything begins to recover. 2023 is getting closer and closer. At this special moment of biddingfarewellto the past and ushering in the new, we would like to send New Year's greetings and heartfelt gratitude to the teachers, students and staff of the university, retired comrades, alumni at home and abroad, leaders at all levels and friends from all fields who have long cared and supported the development of HUST!

The year 2022 is an extremely meaningful year. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held successfully. The Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinpingasthe core united and led the party members, the army and the people of all ethnic groups in China, and launched a new journey of building a modern socialist country on all fronts and promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in an all-round way. Diligence will finally and inevitably reward us. In the past year, we have worked hard and courageously forged ahead, comprehensively coordinated epidemic prevention and control and the development of various causes of the university, preliminarily established a modern university governance system with clear levels, reasonable layout and effective support. The teachers and students of HUST united as one and forgedahead with enterprise and fortitude. By selfless dedication and hard work, they have composed an exciting and heroic song of HUST development. Our university was once againincludedas the "double world-class project" construction university in Heilongjiang Province.It is a brighttrailfor us to build a first-class science and engineering university with distinctive characteristics in China.

Over the past year, our faith and initial hearthave beenfirm, and the leading role of party building has been fully demonstrated. We insistedon leading high-quality development with the guidance of high-level party building, fully studying and implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Party, putting Xi Jinping Thought into all aspects and the whole process of our practical work. The 4th Party Congress and the 5th Teachers’Congress of the University were held, the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the development of education was officially released and fully implemented. The blueprint for building a high-level university has become clearer, and our pace of marching forward become more sonorous and powerful.We have been successfullyincludedinto the list of provincial "industry-university-research" party building alliance pilot universities. The Party branch of the Department of Mechanical Design and Automation successfully passed the acceptance check of the second batch of national model branches, and the Party branch of the Department of Metal Materials Engineering was selected into the third batch of national model branches. The campaign of "Ability and Integrity Building" was coordinated and promoted, and our experience and practices about it were published by the National University Ideological and Political Network, then reported by more than ten mainstream media such as Guangming Daily and Longjiang Pioneer Network. We extendedthe range of strict Party governance to grass-roots units, carriedout inspection on the Party committees of three departments, and strengthenedsupervision and accountability in depth. In the assessment of the effectiveness of the political ecological construction of the provincial party committee, we achieved grade A, and the satisfaction degree of the assessment increased by 10.79% year-on-year, ranking top1amongcolleges and universities of the province.

Over the past year, our foundation of cultivating soul and spirit, pursuing the truth, educating people was constantly consolidated. We keptin mind the important instructions put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping on ideological and political work in colleges and universities, constantly builta new pattern of collaborative education, andintegratethe thought of "three-round education" into the discipline system, teaching system, textbook system and management system, so as to truly make good use of the "ideological and political lesson" and teach the lesson well. Six courses and teaching groups of our university were approved as the second batch of ideological and political demonstration projects of colleges and universities in Heilongjiang Province, and three teams were awarded the title of provincial team of postgraduate ideological and political guidance. We fully implemented the concept of "student-centered, output-based educationand continuous improvement,"and focusedon building first-class majors.23 majors have been approved as national first-class undergraduate construction sites, and 16 majors have passed the professional certification of engineering education. We effectively improved the integration of "entrepreneurship and innovation" education, students of HUST made every effortto accelerate scientific and technological innovation, and won many "national brand" awards in high-level competitions related to materials chemistry and information security.

Over the past year, we have highlighted our distinctiveness, made targeted efforts, andthe advantages of our discipline layout were graduallyshown. Under the general idea of "strengthening,""improving quality" and "upgrading," we optimized and perfected our discipline layout. Based on the current discipline construction practice, the future talent cultivation, scientific and technological development and industrial transformation and upgrading, we followed very closely the characteristic orientation of "new engineering," and vigorously implemented the quality improvement project of the first-class discipline. Our university has been approved to build 11 domestic first-class disciplines, 9 discipline support platforms and 2 special zones for discipline collaborative innovation. The number of our first-class disciplines has doubled,fully coveringfirst-level discipline with the authority to grant doctoral degree, and strengthening and cultivating 4 first-level disciplines with the authority to grant doctoral degree in three directions: basic disciplines, interdisciplinary disciplines and blank disciplines urgently needed in the province. The annual construction fund of "double world-class project" has increased by 43.3%. In 2022, the number of high-level papers of our university increased by 60% year-on-year, and the number of high-level papers in District I of Chinese Academy of Sciences increased by nearly 80%. ESI's global ranking advanced 262 places year-on-year. Among the top 1% disciplines in the world,"Engineering" advanced 108 places,"Material science" advanced 58 places, and "Chemistry" advanced 32 places. The international influence of our advantageous characteristic disciplineshassignificantly improved.

Over the past year, we have been working hard to cultivate students, and the strategy of improving the school by talents has achieved outstanding results. We thoroughly implementedthe spirit of the Central Talent Work Conference,carried forwardthe "60 Articles of Longjiang Talent Revitalization in the New Era" in combination with the actual situation of the university, acceleratedour efforts to build a "reservoir" for talent introduction and education, builtthe "plateau" on the "plain" and form the "peak" on the "plateau," and a large number of outstanding talents have emerged in the teaching sector. They are willing to serve as ladders and reward their successors, Professor Cai Wei, who was elected as a foreign academician of the Russian Academy of Engineering, member of the China Electrotechnical Society and awarded the title of "Longjiang Model"; Professor Chi Qingguo, who won the 13th "Model Worker in Heilongjiang Province"; Professor Chen Minghua, winner of the 24th "Heilongjiang Youth May 4th Medal"; Professor Feng Yu, who won the title of "Heilongjiang Model Youth with Enterprise and Beautiful Heart". They are diligent in their work and strive for the best. The 6th NSFC key project in the history of our university presided by Professor Chen Qingguo was approved; Professor Chen Zhen won the National High-level Young Talents Program of NSFC for the first time; Professor Li Ao was awarded the Young Scientist Program of the National Key R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology for the first time; Three national key projects presided over by Professor Chi Qingguo, Professor Yu Xiaodong and Professor Xu Jiazhong were approved; Professor Hu Jun was once again selected in the list of "highly cited scholars in China". The power of example is deeply rooted in people's heart, the talent-driven effect and the first resource function complement each other.

Over the past year, we have seized opportunities, kept our initial heart and boldly conducted innovation,andthe efficiency of university governance has been significantly improved. We have continuously improved the performance-based salary distribution system, and transformed the key indicators of performance distribution into "observation points" and "batons" to promote the development of the school in all aspects. The secondary management mode of the several departments has initially taken shape, and the internal atmosphere of rewarding those who work hard has become increasingly strong. Based on the campus construction, we have been making effortsand once again won the title of "Provincial Model of Civilized Campus". In addition, we won the honorary title of "Green Campus" in the first batch. The "14th Five-Year Plan" Construction of Smart Campus has been implemented quickly and steadily. The online service hall has been officially put into operation. Currently, 167 items are running online, effectively connecting and integrating the "data islands" of various departments and units, truly realizing the goal of using internet technology to ease and simplify people's life. The new energy motor building and ten thousand meters canteen caps smoothly, education and teaching environment and logistics support ability have made new breakthroughs, finished new leap.

Over the past year, wehave looked at things in big picture terms, embraced the bright side, boosted the revitalization of Heilongjiang and made fruitful results. We took initiative to align with the major national strategies and the economic and social development of Heilongjiang, resolutely shouldered the responsibility and mission of serving the overall revitalization, formulated the HUST Plan on Implementing the Action of Heilongjiang Provincial Colleges and Universities to Serve the Revitalization of Heilongjiang, and led the Longjiang Alumni Investment Project. We hold a special forum on "Digital Innovation and Regional High-quality Development" to gather talents, attract wisdom and offer suggestions for the industrial transformation and upgrading of Heilongjiang province. With 28 provincial and ministerial level scientific research platforms as carriers, we have made advanced layout in key industrial fields such as new energy motors, new materials, advanced manufacturing and automation equipment. 15 provincial "double world-class project" construction discipline were approved, and carried out technology transfer, achievement transformation and supply-demand docking with more than 10 enterprises such as GM Harbin Electric and China First Heavy Industry. A batch of core technologies to solve the crucial problem were intensively implemented and transformed, helping Heilongjiang to build a "4567" modern industrial system with high quality. Horizontal project payment to a year-on-year growth of 14%, an increase of 37% over the year before last; The transfer of scientific research achievements increased by 57% over the previous year and nearly 200% over the year before last. The total amount of scientific research payment has increased by more than 10% for two consecutive years, reaching a record high.

For now, HUST is in its best time. Counting the harvest and perception of this year, things condensed in the flow of time, fixed in our common memory. We will never forget the posture of runners on the playground every morning, the rustling sound made by pen tips in each classroom, the figure of busy professors online and offline, the exhortation when escorting students out of school at 3:00 a.m., the light of the laboratory during midnight, the rhythmic "symphony" of pots and pans in the canteen, and the firm steps of actively inviting to forge ahead in the postgraduate recruitment examination. Every ordinary person of HUST is working hard, contributing and harvesting in their post, creating extraordinary achievements and jointly promoting the stability and far-reaching development of our university.

Facing the tough missions and tasks, the significance of mainstay must be highlighted. The year 2023 is the first year of fully implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Guided by it, HUST is embarking on a connotative development path in the new era of building a first-class science and engineering university with distinctive characteristics in China. This is a path to improve the school-running level with high-end development strategy, a road to cultivate talents rooted in and serving Heilongjiang, and a road to build a "double world-class" university. There is a long way for us to devote ourselves, every step in the future will be a new breakthrough in the new ground. Let's unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, adhere to the overall integration and development of education, science and technology and talents, adhere to educating people for the Party and cultivating talents for the country, adhere to taking advantage of the momentum, continue to struggle, do a good job of education satisfactory to the people, show new spirit and new achievements in the new era on the new journey, forge ahead courageously towards realizing the goal of the second century!