(By Shuai Sun) On September 13, 2015, IIIS Opening Ceremony of the academic year 2015/2016 took place at the Lecture Hall, FIT Building, with the presence of Prof. Andrew Chi-Chih Yao, Dean of IIIS, Prof. Xiaoping Zhang, Dean of Graduate Affairs Office, and Peng Su, Vice Dean of Academic Affairs Office. The attendees also included 30 freshmen, 25 new graduates and IIIS faculty. The ceremony was hosted by Xiamin Lv, General Office Manager.

The Opening Ceremony started with National Anthem of China.

As a tradition, Prof. Yao delivered his welcome address, in which his expectations towards IIIS new members and challenges of the coming academic years were outlined. To be ambitious, to compete with virtues and to appreciate others were what one shall endeavor to do in future life.

Greetings were also extended from IIIS Graduate Committee Chair, Assistant Prof. Jian Li, on behalf of IIIS faculty members. Aspiration, responsibility and integrity, were three key words in Prof. Li’s speech, which were proposed as the significant qualities in the academic career of all. Yicheng Liu, 2013 PhD candidate, also extended welcome and wishes towards all the freshmen and new graduates.

Yaoclass freshman Haochen Zhang and 2015 PhD candidate Yuanhang Xie, as the representatives of new comers, shared their joy of joining IIIS and determined to build their campus life with confidence, persistence and courage.

Prof. Xiaoping Zhang, invited as the distinguished guest speaker, gave a lecture on the tradition of Tsinghua University and qualities excellent Tsinghua students possessed, in the hope that the lecture could help all freshmen adapt to their campus life better.

The ceremony successfully concluded in the Old Anthem of Tsinghua.