Liu Guiqin, Secretary of the CPC BUCT Committee
Tan Tianwei, President of BUCT
Dear teachers, students, alumni and friends,
We are about to see out the old and ring in the new. This New Year's eve, on behalf of Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT), we extend our New Year wishes to faculty, students, staff, retired employees, alumni at home and abroad, and supporters of the university!
The year 2023 was extraordinary, and the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core united and led the entire Party and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups to deepen reforms and opening up across the board, pushed ahead with high-quality development, and took solid steps in building a modern socialist country. The education authority fully implemented the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, accelerated the construction of a strong country in education, and strived to develop education that meets people’s expectations. As education plays an increasingly important role in supporting, leading, and serving economic and social development, its strategic position has been continuously cemented. BUCT has deeply promoted the integration of Party building with the university’s operation, and registered the high-quality development of both. By combining efforts in a spirit of solidarity and commitment to reform, we have strengthened Party-building, promoted the high-quality development of the university in the new era, and embarked on a new journey marked by the dedication of BUCT people.
Enhancing cohesion and forging the Party’s soul, as well as comprehensively and strictly exercising the full and rigorous self-governance of the Party. We have carried out high-standard education in studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era. The achievements we have made in enriching the Party’s soul and wisdom while improving its conduct has occupied the front page of China Education News and appeared on the full page of Beijing Daily. The university has continued to improve its system to exercise full and rigorous Party self-governance, vigorously strengthened the Party and its ideological and political work, and set strengthening Party as the overarching guide for the university’s development. We have strengthened the education of the Party's innovative theories by adding them into teaching materials and teaching them in classrooms. We have held a study session on the subject of "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era" and a seminar on "Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law and Talent Cultivation in the New Era". We have put greater emphasis on teachers' ideological and political work and strengthened the professional ethics and competence of teachers. The spirit of outstanding educators was carried out, and one team was selected in the third batch of “Huang Danian-style Teacher Teams” among national universities. The quality of grassroots Party building was improved, and a new round of on-campus inspections launched. Four Party members and two primary-level Party organizations won the honorary title of "outstanding Party members, exemplary Party workers, and advanced community-level Party organizations" among Beijing universities. The elections for middle-level leading cadres was completed, and a special training course on improving the political competence of newly appointed middle-level leading cadres was held during two sessions at the CPC Party School (National Academy of Governance).
Giving priority to talents cultivation, and improving the quality of independent talents cultivation. 2023 saw us dig deep on interdisciplinary teaching and integration. One master's degree on "Biomedical Engineering" and three new undergraduate majors, including “Resource Chemistry”, were incorporated into our education system; construction is well under way for the Interdisciplinary Research Centers in four fields, including hydrogen energy and cultural relics protection; two subjects successfully passed the professional certification of engineering education; the School of Outstanding Engineers was established to further promote the reform of engineering education; new breakthroughs were made in education and teaching; 14 courses were recognized as national first-class undergraduate courses, and 12 courses, syllabus, and textbooks were selected as high-quality ones among Beijing universities; one virtual teaching and research department was promoted to national level by the Ministry of Education, and two virtual teaching and research departments were promoted to Beijing municipal-level; we won a National Teaching Achievement Award and first prize in the 3rd Beijing University Teaching Innovation Competition; one doctoral paper was rated as excellent in Beijing in 2023; and BUCT students participated in a total of 118 discipline competitions and won 287 awards at or above the national level.
Emphasizing innovation-driven growth, and accelerating efforts to build self-reliance and strength in science and technology. A new round of mid-term self-evaluation of the "double first-class (namely world-class universities and first-class disciplines) initiative" wrapped up, and more than 1.2 billion yuan in scientific research funds was put in place in 2023. The average annual growth rate of scientific research funds during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) remained above 12% and basic research made more headway. Four research papers made their way to the top three international journals of Cell, Nature, and Science, including 3 long research papers in Cell in February of this year, seeing the university tied for first place in the total publication from China in the three journals that month. Eight disciplines rank among the top 1% of the ESI global rankings, with Chemistry and Materials Science remaining in the top 1%. We won the title of "National-level Key Laboratory of High-end Compressor and System Technology" and the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education in the field of manufacturing technology and equipment of special functional materials. BUCT won the 3rd National Innovation Competition Award, China Patent Gold Award, and the 2023 Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Science and Technology Award (Industrial Innovation Award), among others, and ranked 201-300 in the world and 33-50 in the Chinese mainland according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), with the latest Nature Index listing BUCT as 81st in the world and 32nd in the Chinese mainland.
Empowering the university with talent, and achieving remarkable results in building teaching teams. To pool high-end talents, we have cultivated, introduced and made good use of talents in an all-round way. We welcomed 6 new national-level high-end talents, including “Distinguished Young Scholars”, and 11 national-level young talents, including "Outstanding Youth". By adopting a discipline-based approach to teaching, we introduced 40 high-level talents and young outstanding talents, including 2 national-level high-end talents and 4 young talents. One team was acclaimed as an Outstanding Undergraduate Education Team in Beijing Universities, and two more were honored as National Excellent Teaching Teams in Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Education. We won 1 Famous Teacher Award in Beijing Universities, 1 Young Famous Teacher Award, and 2 National Famous Teachers in Petroleum and Chemical Education.
With a global vision, the construction of an "Open BUCT" is advancing. The university has been engaged more in international cooperation, with 20 international cooperation agreements signed and 8 new partners added. The Belt & Road International Forum on Academic & Industrial Cooperation and the inaugural meeting of the first China-Indonesia Industry-University-Research Cooperation Alliance Council (China) were successfully held by the university. For the first time, BUCT was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology as the "Chinese-Greek Joint Research Lab for Bioenergy" between China and European countries, and was approved as a "Joint Lab for International Cooperation on Bioenergy". Three new projects under the framework of China-Indonesia and China-Russia Joint Training 2+2 were signed and we deepened the integration of industry and education, signing strategic cooperation agreements with leading enterprises such as CITIC Group and China Energy Group. We have also continued to promote the joint construction of the "Molecular Chemical Engineering Center" with Sinopec, and jointly established the "New Energy and New Materials Innovation Consortium" with PetroChina. A number of scientific research institutions have been put into place at the local-level to accelerate regional development.
Putting teachers and students first, and making solid progress in the construction of a "Happy BUCT". A number of infrastructure facilities, such as the High-tech Building, Arts & Sciences Building, and the No.2 Teaching Building, came into use. The second phase of the smart teaching system, built to the standard of Beijing Green School, passed inspection, significantly improving the school's teaching and research conditions and educational environment. The capital expenditure was optimized and the merit pay for faculty and staff raised. The interior renovation of 6 dormitories on the East Campus was completed, dramatically changing the living and learning environment of students, and the sports hall on the East Campus was opened, expanding options for physical activities. Logistics support also continued to improve, and the first smart dining hall – the Yulan Canteen - was up and running, serving its “top ten campus food” as rated by teachers and students.
Looking back at 2023, we stayed focused, took solid actions, and forged ahead with fortitude. As we look forward to 2024, we will continue to work hard, uphold fundamental principles, break new ground, and write another new chapter of BUCT.
The year 2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is a key year for the implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan, and an important year for BUCT to speed up the development of a world-class university and strong disciplines with Chinese features. Let us unite more closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, forge ahead and overcome difficulties. We will further implement the four major strategies of "educating people first", "empowering the university with talent", "growing with a global vision" and "making breakthroughs in interdisciplinary subjects". By promoting greater synergy between the government, industry, academia, research and application, we will continue to improve the talent cultivation and scientific and technological innovation system. The construction of "Educational BUCT", "Innovative BUCT", "Open BUCT" and "Happy BUCT" is gaining momentum, and the university will strive to make new and greater contributions to the construction of a strong country and the great rejuvenation of Chinese nation.
As the New Year dawns, we wish the world peace and tranquility，we wish for our country enjoy prosperity and our people live in peace，and we hope you continue to dream and embrace the future!