Prince Andrew, Duke of York, visits Tsinghua University

On April 11th, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, visited Tsinghua University. Tsinghua University President Qiu Yong had a meeting with the guests at Gongziting. Fu Ying, Chairman of the Center for Strategy and Security attended the meeting.

On behalf of Tsinghua University, President Qiu welcomed the visit of Prince Andrew and introduced to him a series of measures recently undertaken by Tsinghua University in its reform of education and teaching, which includes a compulsory course of writing and communication set up last year to train the logical and critical thinking of undergraduate students. Apart from that, the old school rule that students must pass a swimming test before graduation has also been restored in an effort to carry forward the excellent sports tradition of Tsinghua University. Furthermore, measures have also been taken to enhance the humanistic and artistic atmosphere of the campus with an aim to develop the students to be a competent person at all aspects.

President Qiu noted that innovation and entrepreneurship are highly valued through education at Tsinghua University. Altogether four platforms have been established to advance the enterprising and innovation training among students at Tsinghua University. Besides, the university also places great emphasis on cutting-edge and interdisciplinary research to further promote the researches across disciplines and enhance the links between academics and industry.

President Qiu also introduced the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC) initiated by Tsinghua University and jointly launched by seven other world-renowned universities during the World Economic Forum. He stated that addressing global climate challenge is a common challenge facing mankind. Leading universities should play their roles and make contributions in addressing the challenge.

Prince Andrew is very pleased to visit Tsinghua University. He stated that individuals who can solve problems are in demand for societies that wish to create prosperity. Great ideas are of great values to the society, therefore it is crucial that the ideas to problems solving can be converted into commercial solutions and placed for use in market and business places. Universities nowadays play significant roles in enhancing the ability of their students in innovation and entrepreneurship by providing them with skills and knowledge training. It is encouraged that the universities provide their students with the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills from different departments and disciplines to inspire innovative ideas, at the same time enabling them to grow their business into the next generation.

During the meeting, Prince Andrew received questions from students on entrepreneurship, cultural diversity and student exchange. He first introduced the Pitch@Palace program introduced by his highness in 2014, a program aimed to support young entrepreneurs on innovation and has cultivated young entrepreneurs from various countries by bringing their ideas and solutions into reality. Apart from that, he strongly encouraged the communication and exchange of students between countries as it would allow them to be more outward looking and gain experience of what is going on in the new world. Furthermore, he also expressed his support towards cultural diversity, stating that it should be celebrated regardless of one’s nationality through the promotion of cultural understanding.

After the meeting, Prince Andrew and his delegation visited the Tsinghua University Art Museum.


Writers: Guo Lili, Wilson Khor
Editor: Guo Lili