News & Events | About PKU News | Contact | Site Search

Peking University, Nov. 5, 2012: By 2018, 120 years after Peking University (PKU) was founded, PKU will narrow the current gap between itself and those world-class universities, and realize the goal of primitively becoming a world-class university within the first 20 years of the 21st century. In another 15 years or so, PKU will be a world-class university of higher level: with more power, contribution and influence. By 2048, PKU will be one of the leading universities in the world, when it is the 150th anniversary of PKU and just before the 100th birthday of People’s Republic of China.

This is the 3-step route of development that leaders of PKU have in mind. In fact, this master plan has been approved by the school staff meeting and head leaders of China.  

When at the opening session of the enterprise panel of 2012 Beijing Forum at PKU on the morning of November 6, Zhu Shanlu, PKU Council Chairman, introduced the new master plan of PKU’s development to the audience and the press. As he mentioned in his speech, Cai Yuanpei, an influential former president of PKU, firstly expressed the goal of PKU to become a world-class university at the school’s 20th anniversary, the dream of which was confined by the economy and social development of China back then. Again, during the ceremony of 100th anniversary of PKU in Great Hall of the People, at Tiananmen Square, former Chinese President Jiang Zemin set the goal of building a world-class university in early 21st century for PKU. “Now, China has become the second largest economy entity in the world and PKU ranks top 100 or even top 50 according to major rankings of universities worldwide. We should be confident that we are able and ready to realize the dream of our predecessors.”

“Yet we can’t be over-confident because we have to see clearly that there is a lot of room left to be desired by the standards of top universities in the world,” Zhu Shanlu pointed out, “the standards set by the West which I would like to change someday since it’s flawed. The core of education lies in students, the people, which all current ranking criteria fail to consider.” He welcomed the many PKU alumni present back to the campus, expressed gratitude for their contributions to PKU and the society, and asked them to continue supporting PKU since the goal can’t be reached without the consistent endeavor of PKUers and the support from all circles of society.

He really meant it when he said that school should be student-oriented. During a report to a convention of over 2,000 student members and potential members of Chinese Communist Party last Wednesday in PKU Hall, Zhu Shanlu also shared the 3-step strategy of the 2048 goal of PKU with the students. He said that a lot of experience can be drawn from the historical quick up-rising of universities like Harvard and especially the recent soar of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “Money is necessary but it is not everything. To me, the things that matter most for a university are the talented students their family sent to us and rely on us to cultivate. We have to constantly ask ourselves: have we done enough to meet the expectation?”

He told the audience that he and other school leaders did have set their minds to deal with some key issues concerning students on campus. ”We have managed to raise the financial support for PhD students to be equal to that of Tsinghua University. We need to build a new canteen because it is too crowded during dining hours. The mayor of Beijing has agreed to give us land because we’ve realized that space is what we need badly so solve many problems occur on a crowded campus…”

When the host mentioned that a convention of such a scale to hear the report from school leaders was rare in recently years, Zhu Shanlu jumped in and apologized for not being accessible. “I’m sorry that I haven’t set a good example. We definitely need to talk to students more and care about their welfare. Maybe I can sit in a classroom one afternoon each week so that students with any problems can come and talk to us. ” His sincerity and care won the students over and triggered thunderous applause.

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is just around the corner. On this special occasion, PKU utters a strong voice that it is taking on a new journey towards the best.

Reported by: Chen Long

Edited by: Zhang Jiang