HAPPY NEW YEAR丨温州肯恩大学2021年新年贺词
全体师生员工、海内外校友、社会各界朋友：
时序更替，华章日新。我们正在走进充满希望的2021年，在这辞旧迎新的美好时刻，我们谨代表温州肯恩大学向全校师生员工、向遍布世界各地的温肯人、向关心和支持温肯的朋友们，致以衷心的感谢和新年的祝福！
凛冬即过，生机翻涌。2020年充满挑战，布满艰辛。虽有距离，我们隔空相拥。虽有困难重重，我们总是被陌生人的善意感动。2020年，全体温肯人在建设高水平、国际化大学的征程中，和国内外各界人士一起，共抗疫情、同开新局，育新机、谋新篇，紧跟祖国号召、紧随时代脚步，主动适应国内外疫情防控新形势，探索中外合作交流新方式，构建国际化人才培养新模式。
一年来，我们开拓合作，彰显中外合作大学新担当。我们积极利用各类平台开展国际招聘，引进高层次人才30名，新聘教师43人，构建了一支由来自全球35个国家和地区的约140名专任教师组成的国际化高水平师资队伍。创新做好线上就业毕业，2020届毕业生62%学生选择海外升学读研，其中47%以上进入哈佛大学、哥伦比亚大学等全球前50的著名学府，人才培养成效显著。拓展学生国际交流，探索与牛津大学、加州大学圣地亚哥分校等合作。金融学、英语、计算机科学与技术、市场营销、国际商务和视觉传达设计专业入选省级一流本科专业建设点，生物信息学国际科技合作基地列入省级国际科技合作基地名单；首批硕博研究生入学，内涵建设全面提升。学生宿舍二区、建筑与设计学院完工，陈天龙美术馆落成开馆，综合展示馆展现办学成果，提升城市国际影响力。
一年来，我们创新改革，承担中外合作大学新使命。在全球疫情爆发，中外合作办学面临巨大挑战的形势下，利用美国肯恩大学的远程教育体系和优质的在线教育资源，共建网络课程，为身处全国各地及港澳台侨、国际生及美肯交换学生、教师构建实时在线国际课堂，推动信息技术与教育教学深度融合，不断创新“互联网+教学”模式。今年我们首批27位硕博研究生入学，在全国19个省/市18个本科专业招生800余人，并积极响应教育部扩大中外合作办学自主招生的政策，迅速启动并平稳有序完成四轮自主招生工作，顺利招录两百余位持有世界知名学府录取通知书，原计划就读境外本科学生或境外转学生。为境内外国际师生提供暖心服务，保障防疫物资；成立中国防疫翻译志愿者小组，提供国际抗疫志愿服务。
一年来，我们砥砺前行，展现中外合作大学新作为。我们加强顶层设计，制定新一轮五年战略发展规划，谋划良性、可持续、稳步发展。成立由15位中外校长、专家和学者组成的专家咨询委员会，为学校发展提供高级“思想库”和“智囊团”，进一步提高了规划决策的科学性和前瞻性。承办第六届中外合作大学联盟理事会会议，中外合作办学高校图书馆年会、IT联盟会议暨信息技术研讨会，探寻发展新机遇和新路径，为国家高等教育改革发展建言献策。有序推进二期校园规划，并深化校地互动，加强专项助企行动，承办2020世界青年科学家峰会科学分享活动以及“亲情中华”等系列活动，成立中美人文交流研究中心、品牌发展研究院、交互式学习及沉浸式虚拟现实研究院、社会与当代计算机研究院等科研机构，不断提升地方服务能力。
一切过往，皆为序章。我们站在了2021年新的历史起点上，面临着疫情常态化与百年未有之大变局的历史考验，迎接着新型国际合作关系和新一轮规划发展的历史机遇。
直挂云帆，乘风破浪。我们将在变化变局中抢抓机遇，在逆境逆势中砥砺奋进，继续夯实合作办学基础、扩大办学规模、提升办学质量，进一步增强人才培养和服务地方能力，努力成为建设“重要窗口”的名片，走好以特取胜、以质领先的内涵式发展之路。
草木蔓发，春山可望。全体温肯人一定能在挑战与机遇并存的时代浪潮中，奋勇搏击，努力将我校建设成中外合作办学的典范！
最后，衷心祝愿大家新年快乐，身体健康！
党委书记、理事长 王北铰 校长 王立
New Year’s Greetings
Faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends,
Time flies, and it brings changes for the better every day. As we are ushering in the hopeful year of 2021, on behalf of all faculty, staff and students of Wenzhou-Kean University, we would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation and New Year wishes to every member of WKU community and friends who have been caring for and supporting WKU.
The winter will pass and the world will be bursting with vitality. The year of 2020 is a year of challenge and hardship. We embraced each other despite the distance. Although there were so many difficulties, we have always been touched by the kindness of strangers. In 2020, every WKUer have been seeking new opportunities and composing new chapters in the course of building WKU to be a world-class institution. Joining with friends from all walks of life both at home and abroad, we have been tackling this disaster and breaking new grounds. Answering the call of country and keeping up with the times, we have been actively adapting ourselves to the new normal of the pandemic control and prevention, exploring new paths of international cooperation and exchange, and developing new models of nurturing globally competitive talents.
Over the past year, we expanded cooperation, playing a new role as a Sino-foreign cooperative university. We carried out international faculty recruitment through various platforms and recruited 30 high-level talents and 43 new faculty. We currently have a high-level international faculty team of 140 members coming from 35 countries and regions. We provided our on- line graduation and job placement services in an innovative way. 62% of class of 2020 graduates choose to pursue further studies. 47% of them were accepted by the top 50 prestigious universities such as Harvard University and Columbia University. We enlarged our international student exchange and explored collaboration opportunities with Oxford University and University of California, San Diego. Our Finance (B.S.), English (B.A.), Computer Science (B.S.), Marketing (B.S.), Global Business (B.S.) and Graphic Design (B.F.A.) were named as Zhejiang Provincial First-rate Programs. Our Bio-informatics International Collaboration Center were named as a provincial level international scientific and technological cooperation platform. We enrolled our first cohort of graduate students, which is an overall elevation of our level of education. Our campus construction elevated the city’s international influence. The constructions of the Second Phase of Student Residential Halls and the College of Architecture and Design were completed. The Chen Tianlong Art Museum were opened, and the Exhibition Hall were put into use to demonstrate our history and achievements.
Over the past year, we have been innovative and creative, undertaking a new mission as a Sino-foreign cooperative university. The Sino-foreign educational cooperation have been severely challenged by the pandemic. In response to the challenge, we developed on-line courses with the support from Kean University, basing on Kean University’s remote learning and on-line teaching platforms. The on-line teaching platform served our students and faculty around the world, providing real-time class-room experiences. It was a deep integration of information technology and education, and an innovation of “internet plus” education. We actively responded to the independent student recruitment policy of Sino-foreign cooperative universities made by the Ministry of Education. We enrolled our first cohort of 27 graduate students and more than 800 undergraduate students in 18 programs from 19 provinces and municipalities. We carried out 4 rounds of independent recruitment and enrolled more than 200 undergraduate freshmen and transfer students who have received offers from prestigious universities around the world or have been studying in such universities. We have been providing heart-warming services and pandemic control supplies to foreign employees and students who have been staying in China. We organized a team of volunteer translators to provide language support in the global fight against Covid-19.
Over the past year, we march forward against winds and rains, championing what a Sino-foreign university would do amid challenges. We have formulated the new five-year strategic plan for a healthy, sustainable and steady development. An Expert Advisory Committee of 15 presidents, experts and scholars has been established to be the think tank of WKU, providing advice on decision-making and strategy planning of feasibility and insights. New opportunities and development pathways have been explored via grand events hosted by WKU, including the 6th Sino-Foreign Cooperative University Union Board Meeting, the Sino-Foreign Cooperative University Library Annual Conference, and the Joint Venture University IT Alliance Conference. The second phase campus construction is making great progress. WKU has always been committed to further university-community interactions, enhance specific industry supporting approaches, and elevate community service capacity, such as hosting 2020 World Young Scientist Summit sharing sessions and “Embrace China” Series, and establishing China-U.S. Cultural Exchange Research Center, Brand Development Research Institute, Interactive Study and Visual Reality Research Institute, Society and Modern Computer Research Institute, etc.
What’s past is prologue. We are standing at the starting point of 2021. We are now in the time of regular pandemic prevention and control, and profound shifts unseen in a century. Meanwhile, it is the time of opportunities for new international cooperation and strategic planning.
Brave sails steer against hails. We are to seize the opportunity amid profound shifts, enhancing cooperation, expanding scale, promoting education quality, strengthening talent cultivation and local services, making WKU a fundamental window to demonstrate world-class Sino-foreign education cooperation with unique characteristics and high quality.
Blooming flower colors a new spring of splendor. The WKU community will bravely and ceaselessly fight against the tides and waves, making WKU a demonstrative university of Sino-foreign education cooperation!
We wish you all a happy and healthy new year!
Mr. WANG Beijiao, Chairman, Board of Directors
Dr. WANG Li, Chancellor