On the afternoon of September 9, NAU held the Opening Convocation Ceremony to welcome the members of the Class of 2022. The ceremony was attended by nearly 6,000 new undergraduates and postgraduates as well as faculty representatives.
On behalf of the university, President Zhou Guanghong introduced NAU’s important roles in China’s higher agricultural education and cited exemplary accomplishments of NAU in talent and discipline development, scientific research and international exchanges. He announced that after seven years of efforts, NAU has basically fulfilled the strategic goal of becoming a world-class agricultural university that was set in 2011. NAU’s academic performance was ranked by the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities on the list of global top 400 universities that was published on August 15 of this year.
President Zhou appealed to new students to develop a mentality of “stay hungry, stay foolish”. He emphasized that while diligence and respect can make a successful life, slackness and arrogance can spoil one’s life. Intelligence does vary much from student to student. What holds the key is whether they can study hard with a humble and curious attitude.
Finally, President Zhou encouraged new students to aim high, respect science, study hard, grow in an all-round way, develop a global vision and become a patriotic person with the qualities of NAU graduates, who are expected to contribute to the prosperity of our country as industry leaders or as accomplished professionals.
Faculty representative Prof. Wu Juyou from the College of Horticulture shared three lines with new students—Unleash the potential of youth, a stage of life when you are expected to work hard; stay passionate about and stand in awe of life; think broadly and highly to lead a different life.
Tong Yueshan of the College of Life Sciences and Chen Huiyu of the College of Finance also spoke at the ceremony respectively on behalf of new and existing students.
At the ceremony, the entire Class of 2022 also took a solemn oath that they will firmly uphold NAU’s motto of “integrity, simplicity, diligence and benevolence” by innovating with an enterprising spirit, keeping abreast of times and growing an all-round way. They will also stay committed to the mission put on their shoulders by aiming high, being dedicated to their future career, respecting science, pursuing the truth, being practical and altruistic as agents of change for the progress of society and the country.
