2021 was an exciting year at SIGS! With the 100th anniversary of the CPC, the 110th anniversary of Tsinghua, the 20th anniversary of SIGS, our school’s many local and global collaborations, and important expansions of academic disciplines, there was a lot to celebrate. As the new year begins, we look back on the SIGS news highlights from 2021 with pride in what SIGS has achieved. We hope 2022 will be even more eventful and rewarding!
01
100th anniversary of the CPC
Students and teachers gathered to watch the ceremony of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.
Tsinghua President Qiu Yong investigated the establishment of a benchmarking unit for party building at Tsinghua SIGS.
SIGS and the Nanshan District People’s Congress jointly held CPC 100th anniversary activities. Other on-campus activities included a “Xuexi Qiangguo” platform knowledge competition; activities organized by administrative offices, faculty, and students on the day of the anniversary; and an exhibition on the CPC’s history at Tsinghua.
SIGS prepared a video on the CPC’s history on campus.
Our school won university-level awards for exceptional essays and presentations on CPC history learning and education.
02
Tsinghua’s 110th anniversary, SIGS 20th anniversary
At the SIGS 20th Anniversary Ceremony, school leadership, faculty, students, and staff joined special guests to look back at the innovation the campus has achieved in the past 20 years and discuss new developments for the future.
At the 20th Anniversary Gala, over 3500 attendees watched performances ranging from singing and dancing to theatre and xiangsheng, a form of Chinese comedic art.
The band Shuimu Nianhua, whose members are Tsinghua alumni, performed in honor of the anniversary.
Other anniversary events included a running event and a carnival.
03
Achievements in academic discipline establishment
In October, SIGS held a hybrid meeting to discuss the academic discipline establishment proposal for Guangdong’s development plan for high-level universities. The proposal was approved by experts attending the event.
In 2021, our school was recognized as a key higher education institution in Guangdong’s development plan for high-level universities. Five academic disciplines have been selected as key ones under the plan, a testament to the school’s remarkable progress in academic discipline development.
Associate Dean Victor Chan and Professors Peter Russell, Peter E. Lobie, and Feng Juan attended an appointment ceremony for tenured professors of Tsinghua University on behalf of tenured professors from SIGS.
The Division of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Institute of Innovation Management were established.
Our campus’s Arts and Humanities Popularization Base was approved as a Guangdong Humanities and Social Sciences Popularization Base.
04
Local collaboration
The 3rd SIGS Board Meeting of the year took place.
Vice Mayor of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government Zheng Hongbo, Education Bureau Director of Shenzhen Municipality Chen Qiuming, and Development and Reform Commission of Shenzhen Municipality Director Guo Ziping visited campus.
The Guangdong Roundtable Conference on Green, Low-Carbon Development and the unveiling ceremony for the Jiangmen “Shuangtan” Laboratory, a laboratory focused on achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, were held. Guangdong Vice Governor Wang Xi attended the events. SIGS and Jiangmen “Shuangtan” Laboratory signed an agreement of intent for cooperation.
SIGS participated in the establishment of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area National Technology Innovation Center.
05
High-profile academic exchange
Lively exchanges of ideas occurred at the following events at SIGS this year:
The 2021 Tsinghua University Innovation and Leadership Engineering Doctoral Fall Forum
The 2nd Hong Kong-Macao Symposium, which explored the theme “Hong Kong, A Combination of Chinese & Western Culture + Macao, A Convergence of Chinese and Western Culture: Supporting Hong Kong & Macao as Centers for Artistic and Cultural Exchange and Bases for Collaboration”
The unveiling ceremony for the Lingnan Ecological and Environmental Innovation Alliance and the first Ecological and Environmental Innovation Conference
The Greater Bay Area International Workshop on Information Theory and Artificial Intelligence
The 1st and 2nd International Interdisciplinary Innovation Forum
A forum on high-quality development of public hospitals from the Institute of Hospital Management
The 8th International Forum on Graphene in Shenzhen
06
Teaching training events and recognition for excellent teaching
SIGS received four municipal awards for excellent teaching and research.
A number of faculty research projects were recipients of Tsinghua teaching achievement awards.
The 2020 and 2021 list of Excellent Courses (Graduate) at Tsinghua recognized 6 courses from Tsinghua SIGS.
The course “Professional Ethics” was recognized as an exemplary course by Tsinghua and the Ministry of Education.
Several young faculty members from Tsinghua SIGS won awards at the 9th THU Young Teachers’ Teaching Competition.
Students from the 2021 incoming class set a new school record for the number of theses chosen as excellent.
A training seminar was held for faculty on improving teaching standards and quality.
Advisor training events were held, including an education innovation forum for universities in Shenzhen and the 5th Doctoral Advisor Seminar of Tsinghua SIGS.
07
Research achievements
Eight Tsinghua SIGS Professors were mentioned on the global 2021 Highly Cited Researchers List; Professor Kang Feiyu was recognized for his work in two fields, materials science and chemistry.
Research teams published in internationally recognized journals and many SIGS research papers were accepted at international conferences.
Students won many high-level scientific research competitions.
Professors won awards from the Chinese Institute of Electronics and Chinese Society for Measurements along with provincial-level awards.
Associate Professor Bilu Liu was awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars from the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
08
Junzi
New campus statue Junzi was unveiled.
During the ceremony for the unveiling of Junzi, Tsinghua Vice President & SIGS Dean Yang Bin reflected, “The establishment of the Junzi statue represents the influence of Tsinghua’s ‘Three Treasures’ (its motto, campus, and alumni).” Funded by alumni donations, the statue is not only an important part of Tsinghua’s history and culture on the SIGS campus but also reflects the commitment of Tsinghua’s students, faculty, and alumni to participating in the development of the Greater Bay Area and the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.
09
Industry collaboration, innovation & entrepreneurship, student activities
SIGS collaborated with companies including China Construction Science & Technology Group, Co., Ltd., OCT Vision Inc., Pudu Technology Inc., and Shenzhen Leaguer Co., Ltd. to build industry-university-research platforms.
Our school signed social practicum contracts with organizations like the Party School of Guangming District and Shenzhen Human Resources Flow Center, Ltd.
China Mobile (Guangdong) and Huawei signed talent cultivation agreements with SIGS.
Shenzhen Institute of Building Research Co, Ltd.; Vanke Urban Research; Zhiyang Innovation Technology Co., Ltd.; Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute, Tsinghua University; Guangzhou Anyka Microelectronics Co., Ltd.; Shenzhen Eye Hospital; and Biscient Technologies were recognized for their cooperation with SIGS on talent cultivation at a plaque-giving ceremony.
The 2021 i-Space Youth Innovation Forum & Startup Carnival attracted over 300 participants.
SIGS Communist Youth League had its first congress.
The Shenzhen Muncipial Youth League Committee signed a framework agreement on comprehensive cooperation with SIGS.
10
Greater Bay Area and international cooperation
SIGS co-hosted the Digital X: Cities, Systems, Products and Services (HDX) program with the Tsinghua Southeast Asia Center (Tsinghua SEA).
Tsinghua SIGS and the Department of Bioengineering of the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Tsinghua University and Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) have reached an agreement to launch a Dual Master's Degree Program in Resources and Environment at Tsinghua SIGS.
Tsinghua iSpace and Meiji University held an online “study and travel” activity.
The 2021 Tsinghua-TUM Talks explored innovation and sustainability.
SIGS students and teachers joined our global partner Kanazawa University’s “Tsinghua Day” events.
Edited by Alena Shish & Yuan Yang
