Envoy lauds Sino-US education collaboration

China's Ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, has lauded Sino-US joint colleges and universities as valuable instances of educational collaboration between China and the US, and has encouraged students to promote international people-to-people exchanges and become ambassadors of friendship.

Qin made the remarks via video on Friday at the first graduation ceremony of the Juilliard School of Tianjin Conservatory of Music and at a graduation ceremony at Duke Kunshan University, which is also the first class of undergraduates from the university.

The Juilliard Graduate School, Tianjin Conservatory of Music, the first and only overseas branch of The Juilliard School in New York, was established in November 2015. It is the first art school in China to grant a US master's degree. The school, in the Yujiapu Free Trade Zone in Tianjin, has become a cultural center for performance, practice, research, interactive exhibitions and public service.

In his address to the graduation ceremony of the school, Qin said the China-US joint venture has cultivated high-level international musical and artistic talent and made a fruitful contribution to promoting mutual appreciation of the arts and humanistic exchanges between the two countries.

Qin told the first graduate students of the Juilliard School that they are not only outstanding talents nurtured by Sino-US educational exchanges but will soon also become artistic ambassadors to promote communication and understanding between China and the world. Since the pandemic broke out two years ago the students have gone through trials and tribulations, reaped the power of growth and gained a deeper understanding of the interdependence of human destiny, he said.

Social responsibility

Qin said he hoped that as the students prepared to graduate in a complex and uncertain world they would remain independent and determined and strive to become "global artists" with high artistic standards and a sense of social responsibility.

Duke Kunshan University is a cooperative institution managed by Wuhan University of China and Duke University in North Carolina that began master's degree and undergraduate exchange student education in 2014. Students receive academic instruction whose quality is on a par with that of Duke, and a degree from Duke University as well as a degree from Duke Kunshan University when they complete their studies.

In his video address to the Duke Kunshan University graduation ceremony, Qin said the university is a valuable instance of Sino-US educational collaboration and a platform for teachers and students from different countries and cultural backgrounds to mingle their ideas as well as learn from each other.

People-to-people exchanges are a ceaseless driving force in developing country-to-country relations, he said.

He encouraged the Duke Kunshan graduates to draw on their unique advantage as Generation Zers, being energetic and passionate, to pursue dreams, achieve self-fulfillment, benefit others and serve as friendship ambassadors between China and the US.