By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

"Todai Week at Tsinghua", a major communication event between Tsinghua University and the University of Tokyo (Todai), started May 19. The University of Tokyo is the first partner institution in Asia with which Tsinghua has cooperated to hold a University Week event.

Tsinghua University President Gu Binglin, University of Tokyo President Hiroshi Komiyama, Ms. Zhang Xiuqin, the Ministry of Education’s Director-General of International Cooperation and Exchange, Mr. Hisashi Michigami, Minister of Japanese Embassy to China, and Tsinghua Vice President Xie Weihe attended the opening ceremony in Tsinghua’s Main Building that morning.

Tsinghua President Gu extended a warm welcome to the University of Tokyo delegation. He noted that, “the Todai Week at Tsinghua will be a platform for further strengthening friendship and collaboration between our two institutions.” He also made the following statement: “I am greatly moved when I know many Todai students in the delegation expressed their wishes for donating blood for the injured people. And on the occasion of last night’s joint student performance, many Todai students donated money for relief efforts and aid to the earthquake area.”

“It is my sincere hope that Todai Week will help promote and strengthen a high level of academic exchange between our two universities. I would especially like to emphasize the importance of the exchange of students and young scholars. This new generation will create new relationships not only between our two universities but also between China and Japan,” said President Komiyama. He later delivered a speech on “Global Sustainability and Vision 2050”.

During Todai Week at Tsinghua, there will be five academic lectures, fourteen symposiums and workshops in the fields of science, engineering, the humanities and social sciences on the Tsinghua campus. The various gatherings will cover a wide range of issues, including Sino-Japanese comparative studies, regional and sustainable development, and frontiers in biotechnology and nanotechnology. More than 100 Todai distinguished professors are invited to Tsinghua to exchange ideas with their Tsinghua counterparts. In addition to academic activities, Todai Week at Tsinghua will also feature exchange activities between students. Over 100 Todai graduate students will participate in the Student Art Performance and many other activities together with Tsinghua graduate students.

The representatives from both universities also planted a tree symbolizing the friendship of the University of Tokyo and Tsinghua in the Friendship Garden of Tsinghua May 19. A Student Exchange Agreement between Tsinghua and the University of Tokyo was also signed that day.

(Photo by Guo Haijun)