On February 22, 2019, Springtime Middle-level Cadres Conference of Southeast University was convened at the Auditorium of Jizhong Building, Jiulonghu Campus. Members of the Party and government leading team of Southeast University, members of the Party Committee, member of the Disciplinary Committee, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, cadres aboveDeputy Director (including investigators), representatives of the National People's Congress at all levels, members of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Democratic Party, overseas Chinese federations and principals of Association of Non-Party Intellectual, the Executive Committee of the Teaching Staff Representative Conference and principals of the school’s retired association attended the meeting. School Party Secretary Zuo Wei and President Zhang Guangjun addressed the conference respectively, summarized the school’s work in 2018 and deployed work in 2019. The conference was presided over by Executive Vice President Wang Baoping.

At the meeting, President Zhang Guangjun first delivered an administrative work report titled “To deepen comprehensive reform in an overall manner and vigorously promote the construction of ‘double first-class university’”. He pointed out that in 2018, the school adhered to the development path of socialist education with Chinese characteristics, strived to achieve connotative development, cultivate first-class talents, produce first-class achievements and build the world-class university with Chinese characteristics. Focusing on the theme of “Year of Talent” and the key words of “reform, quality and efficiency” while in combination with charts and data, President Zhang summarized the main achievements made in the development of various undertakings in 2018. First, the school adhered to the “morality establishment and peoplecultivation”, and thus cultivated abundant talents. Secondly, the school persisted in strengthening the school by talents, therefore, the teachers’ quality has been significantly improved. Thirdly, the school persisted in innovation-driven mechanism with outstanding scientific researches frequently reported. Fourthly, the school adhered to the connotation development, which has resulted in outstanding achievements. Fifthly, the school persisted in open education. International cooperation and exchanges have become more active. Sixthly, the school persisted in people-oriented operation. A “beautiful Southeast University” is becoming increasingly better.

At the same time, President Zhang also pointed out the bottlenecks that the school came across in the course of reform and development regarding introduction and cultivation of high-end talents, cultivation of leading talents and deepened comprehensive reform in an overall manner, etc.. He stressed that the key to solving such bottleneck problems would lie in the cadre team. He proposed to further strengthen thecadre team’s sense of mission, responsibility and crisis in 2019 so as to enhance the team’s capacity for planning, coordination and execution. On this basis, President Zhang made a general deployment of administrative work in 2019. He pointed out that the school, under the guidance of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new ear of Xi Jinping, would always persist in the school-running philosophy of “being renowned in the world for science and serving the country with talents”, continue to follow the school-running thought of “frontier-oriented, service strategy, teachers and students based, talent in priority and intensify the “talent-oriented” work theme, focus on such key words as “new mission, new responsibility and new action”, intensify the acting point of “team building and work style formation”. Besides, more efforts would be made to gather strength, pay attention to implementation, deepen comprehensive reform in an overall manner and thus accelerate the construction of a “double first-class university”. First of all, we should adhere to the fundamental task of “morality establishment and people cultivation” to create a new view for leading talents. Secondly, we must continue to implement the strategy of “strengthening the school by talent” to establish a new highland of talent team. Thirdly, we should intensify scientific research organization and management to promote innovation in science and technology and gain new breakthroughs. Fourthly, we should unceasingly optimize the discipline layout to enhance new connotations of discipline construction. Fifthly, we should strive to vigorously enhance high-end international cooperation to form a new pattern of internationalized education. Sixthly, we should keep teachers and students-oriented to make new achievements in building a “beautiful Southeast University”. Finally, President Zhang expected that all teachers and students could take on new missions, accumulate new advantages, stimulate new motivations, strive to compose a new historical chapter of “Chinese Dream” and the “Dream of Southeast University to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China with outstanding achievements.

Secretary Zuo delivered a report titled “New Mission, New Responsibility and New Action to Promote the Construction of a World-Class University with Chinese Characteristics”. He first summarized new progresses made in 2018 in respect of the party's construction, governance structure, ideological and political work, cultural construction and career development. Besides, he expounded his understanding and thinking about the status quo and the school’s development. He pointed out that the current development trend of colleges and universities would more focus on internationalization, education, integration, openness, interaction and culture. As the social development and progress would rely more on higher education, the competition of national development would lie in the competition for talents in essence and the global higher education competition would finally depend on the connotative development of higher education institutions. In this sense, the said world-class university would fundamentally lie in whether it could cultivate leading talents with global view, benefiting humans and leading the future, whether it could develop scientific achievements to advance human development and life changes, whether it could work out thoughts and theories to promote social progress. He further pointed out that the Party and national undertaking development held highly expectations of higher education under the background of two centennial Chinesedream; meanwhile, both domestic and foreign politics, economy, science and technology, education, etc. have also proposed higher requirements. We should persist in the fundamental assignment of morality establishment and people cultivation, return to the basic social property of education and school, return to the initial intention of cultivation and the duty of academy. Secretary Zuo indicated better education would lie in class quality as the key, the staff as the core and the teaching organization as the foundation. Upon the development of almost 120 years, under the major background of “two centennials” and “double first-class construction”, Southeast University is subject to critical transformations. Accordingly, the development objective, the talent cultivation, the scientific research, the discipline construction and the campus culture, etc. shall be transformed themselves. In order to better adapt to the new development tendency of global higher education, better adapt to the national new requirements on the development of higher education, reply to the new changes and new format under the national great development, fit in with the transformation of school’s development, the school must identify its new orientation and reestablish its new objectives so as to make reform and innovation from multiple perspectives including way of thinking, organization and action, etc.

      Secretary Zuo pointed out that 2019 would witness the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is a crucial year for building a well-off society in an all-round way and achieving the first-centennial striving objectives; it is also the first year for the school to achieve the first goal of the three-step strategy. Under the guidance of constructing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era of Xi Jinping, the school should thoroughly implement spirits expressed by the 19th People's Congress,the second and third plenary sessions of the 19th Communist Party of China Central Committee, deeply study and implement the spirit of the National Education Conference, fully release the vitality of running a school, and strive to promote the “Double First-class” to make new achievements, further enhance the school’s comprehensive strength and school-running capacity. He emphasized that this year, the school would further develop the theme education of “never forgetting the original aspiration and keeping in mind the mission”, launch a new round of campus inspections, do well in changing the termof the grassroots party branches at school, improve the two-levelgovernance structure of the school and the college (department), further optimize the cadre structure in the whole school, do well in the re-election of administrative leadership of the whole school (departments); do well in the ideological and political innovation and development center under the Ministry of Education and the construction of subsidized education project, well develop the Marxist College, focus on the comprehensive reform pilot of “education with all the forces” promoted by the Ministry of Education, implement the “Ten Concepts ofEducation” program, build an integrated ideological and political work system, focus on ideological & political courses and curriculum ideological & political construction, improve the quality of teachers' classroom teaching, well organize and carry out theme-based publicity activities for celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of People’s Republic China, promote the in-depth construction of campus culture, campus democracy, campus livelihood, beautiful campus and safe campus.