The year 2023 is the opening year of comprehensively implementing the spirit of the 20th Party Congress, and it is also the key year of comprehensively promoting the construction of GIFT. In this year, GIFT has always insisted on educating people for the party and the country, insisted on making moral education as the fundamental task, insisted on taking students’ healthy growth as the centre, and made substantial progress in talent cultivation, scientific research, integration of industry and education, school-running resources and internationalization. At the end of the year, looking back at the whole year, let’s review the most unforgettable and glamorous GIFT moments of the year together.
In January, the Party Committee of Union College was formally established to drive the GIFT’s high-quality development with high-quality party building. In July, Ge Tianshu and Wang Jingchuan were appointed as vice deans. In September, Jin Sun was appointed as the executive dean to promote the development of the institute's various construction undertakings with organisational safeguards. Under the leadership of Dean Ni Jun and Party Secretary Yang Ming, the brand-new leadership team will unite and lead the whole institute to unswervingly carry out the Party's education policy, adhere to the fundamental task of cultivating people with moral integrity, focus on the goal of cultivating internationalised, strategic and innovative talents, continuously improve the quality of talent cultivation, gather advantageous resources from all sides, and actively explore new paths and new measures to promote high-quality development.
On 16th February, Wu Yan, Vice Minister and Member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Education visited Shanghai Jiaotong University (hereafter SJTU) listened to the report on the construction of GIFT. Wu Yan encouraged GIFT to do a good job of organised future technology talent cultivation work, build into a talent peak, science and technology peak, really lead the future development, to provide support for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
On 26th February, the launching ceremony of the first GIFT Future Scholar Programme of SJTU was successfully held. 21 students from UM-SJTU Joint Institute, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, etc. were successfully selected for the first GIFT Future Scholars Programme, and they will participate in scientific research traineeships and practice under the guidance of “one-to-one” mentors of their professional fields, and carry out interest-driven project research to explore their scientific interests and stimulate their academic interests.
On 17th April, Xu Feng, Secretary of Shanghai Science and Technology Work Party Committee, and her entourage investigated GIFT at SJTU. Xu Feng expressed her hope that the institute will deepen its planning, build a platform and gather resources on the new track of future energy and future health, and play the role of leading, integrating and co-ordinating the scientific research power of all parties. GIFT should continue to play the advantages of industry, academia, research and application, adhere to the problem orientation, actively cooperate with the Science and Technology Commission, and continue to promote Chinese and foreign scientific and technological exchanges.
On 5th May, the opening ceremony of transition space of GIFT was held. Jiang Xinghao, vice president of SJTU, Ni Jun, dean of GIFT, Yang Ming, secretary of party committee, and Li Xinwan, director of Yue-Kong Pao Library, unveiled the name wall of GIFT, and all the teachers and staffs of GIFT witnessed it together. The brand-new schooling space enhances the cohesion of the institute and provides a broader stage for GIFT. GIFT will deeply grasp the development trend of the world science and technology and the future industry, strive to write the answer sheet of the era of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement, live up to the mission, step into the future, embrace the future, and create the future.
From 7th to 9th July, the teachers and students of GIFT went to Xishan to carry out the study and practice activities of “Wisdom Convergence in Xishan, Innovation for Future”, to deepen the cooperation and co-construction relationship between GIFT and Xishan District of Wuxi City, and to deeply promote the synergistic development of government, industry, academia and research. At the launching ceremony, the awarding ceremony of “Future Technology Taihu Lake Scholarship” was held, and “Future Scholar Innovation Workstation” and “SJTU Social Practice Base” were settled in Xishan simultaneously.
On 19th August, the 2nd anniversary celebration of GIFT was successfully held in Ningde. Leaders from CATL, SJTU and Transfar attended the event and reviewed the development history of GIFT and looked forward to the future development together with representatives of teachers and students. During the period in Ningde, GIFT also held the exhibition of school running achievements of the 2nd anniversary of the founding of GIFT, school-enterprise scientific research co-operation promotion meeting, joint training base construction seminar, etc., and visited the alumni enterprise, CIML.
On 9th September, the first opening ceremony of GIFT was held in the lecture hall of Yue-Kong Pao Library. Zong Wa, Deputy Secretary General of China Education Association for International Exchange, Academician Ding Kuiling, President of SJTU, Academician Ning Guang, President of Ruijin Hospital and Honourary President of the Academy and other guests attended. The model of the new building of GIFT and its mascot “GIFT Calf” were unveiled. The arrival of the first batch of new students is a milestone for the development of GIFT, and also represents that it will carry new mission and responsibility.
On 7th November, Liu Ming, Director of Social Development Department of National Development and Reform Commission, and his entourage investigated in SJTU. Jin Sun, executive dean of GIFT, made a report on the construction of national energy storage technology industry-education fusion innovation platform of GIFT. Associate Professor Gao Xiangwen of Future Battery Research Centre introduced the Energy Storage Battery Manufacturing and Equipment Centre Laboratory to Liu Ming and his entourage. Liu Ming pointed out that he hoped GIFT would make greater contribution to cultivating talents urgently needed by the industry and overcoming key technologies through the new paradigm of industry-education integration.
On 11th December, the first meeting of Communist Youth League of GIFT at SJTU was grandly held. After the meeting, the first student meeting and the first graduate student meeting of GIFT will be held, the student union and graduate student union of GIFT will be established, and the officers of the student union and graduate student union will be elected. The newly established GIFT Youth League Committee, Student Union and Postgraduate Students' Union will become the core force to serve, unite and lead the youth, and serve the students to become the leading talents to respond to the needs of the times and lead the future development.
On 15th December, SJTU and CATL signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Both sides will start a new round of strategic cooperation in the next five years around the cross-field scientific research cooperation, joint talent cultivation between schools and enterprises, and practice social responsibility to serve people’s livelihood. After the ceremony, a seminar on the development strategy of GIFT was held, in which leaders from all parties made suggestions on how to promote the institute to build a new paradigm of deep integration of industry and education.
Before the signing ceremony, Zeng Yuchun, chairman of CATL, board director of SJTU and honorary dean of GIFT, was invited as a guest of the 4th GIFT Distinguished Lecture Series, and with the theme of “Becoming an innovative and pioneering talent of the future”, he had a face-to-face exchange and sharing with the students of SJTU and told them about his experience of studying and entrepreneurship under the guidance of the spirit of innovation, as well as the layout and outlook of the future industry of CATL around the promotion of global sustainable development.
