Graduation Ceremony & Conferment of Degree is, to the tradition-conscious British people, a most significant event in life like wedding. The Graduation Ceremony 2015 of the University of Sheffield was held on July 22ndand President Huang Wei received his degree of Doctor of Science Honoris Causa, a full recognition of both his outstanding academic excellence and achievements and his great contribution to the development of Chinese science and education.
The ceremony, solemn yet soulful with elegance and delicacy, demonstrates the British glory and the time-honored heritage of the University of Sheffield, a world-famous university which was established in 1828. The University of Sheffield has been described byThe Timesas one of the powerhouses of British higher education, rated 69th in world in the 2014 QS World University Rankings and boasting five Nobel Laureates. It is a member of theRussell Group, theEuropean University Association, theWorldwide Universities Networkand theWhite Rose University Consortium. Compared to some other British universities on the conservative side, the University of Sheffield appears more liberal and open and enthusiastic about China. Up till now, the University of Sheffield has three "3+1" programs with Nanjing Tech University. The first cohort of graduates have completed their studies in 2015 and a large proportion of them are admitted by many world-famous universities for further study.
Prof. Mark Geoghegan, physicist and presenter of President Huang Wei, introduced President Huang's academic experience and his ambition for NanjingTech with his insightful and poetic language. He spoke highly of President Huang's great contribution in plastic electronics and grapheme and his fruitful collaboration with the world top scientists such as Nobel Laureate, Prof. Alan Heeger and Prof. Donal Bradley of Imperial College. He hailed President Huang as "strategic thinker" who "has fostered an environment where internationalisation is a way of life in Nanjing" and "made a real contribution to China's rise as a scientific force to be reckoned with".
President Huang, after receiving his the degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa, delivered a speech entitled "Dedicated to Belief, Faith and Confidence", in which he reviewed the historic contribution of China to the world, summarized the development of China since the reform and opening policies were implemented and looked forward to the bright future of Chinese science and technology. He was convinced that with the economic development of China, the fruits of technological innovations and the advanced philosophy of higher education would become deeply rooted and flourish in China. Chinese universities with their own characteristics would top the ranks of world universities. He quoted Shakespeare and Newton and encouraged the students on the ceremony to be "dedicated to their own belief, faith and confidence".
Prof. Keith Burnett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, expressed his appreciation and gratitude to President Huang in his speech. Prof. Keith Burnett is a physicist and has a keen interest in Chinese culture. He is confident of the future development of the partnership and collaboration with NanjingTech.
President Huang Wei's honorary degree awarded by the University of Sheffield will play a significant role in promoting the image, globalization and leaping development of Nanjing Tech university. As President Huang said when interviewed by BBC, it is not only a recognition of personal achievement but also a glory of Nanjing Tech University and China. It is a debut of NanjingTech on the stage of world higher education and demonstrates the vitality of Chinese universities in their pursuit of excellence.
PS. 1. Presenting Speech by Prof. Mark Geoghegan
The University of Sheffield
Degree Congregation, 22 July 2015
Vice-Chancellor,
Professor Jim Feast, a former president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and incidentally, a Chemistry graduate of our University, pointed out that the biggest challenge polymer chemists have is the control of the structure of their polymers. To make them pure and with predictable properties is an ongoing challenge, and is one of which Professor Huang Wei, whom we honour today, will be well aware.
In 1965, when the Beatles were flying high, and the British were buying a Ticket to Ride, Huang Wei was born in Hebei in North-east China. As a young man, he made the short journey to Beijing to obtain a degree in Chemistry from Peking University in 1985. He remained there to obtain an MSc and PhD, before leaving for the National University of Singapore, where he was later a founding member of the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering.
His rise was incessant, and in 2001 he became Professor in the Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore. This was only nine years after having obtained his PhD. The following year, he became the Director General of the Institute of Advanced Materials at Fudan University in Shanghai. After six years as Deputy President of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, he became President of Nanjing University of Technology in 2012, quickly changing its name to Nanjing Tech to reflect his ambitions for the University.
Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources." White light-emitting diodes, some ten times more efficient and 100 times more long lasting, are slowly replacing the incandescent lamps of yesteryear. These Nobel prize-winning LEDs are based on gallium nitride. Professor Huang does not work on this kind of semiconductor, but instead built his reputation in the field of plastic electronics. Plastics are inexpensive; and cost is not an advantage of gallium nitride devices, which have to be prepared in notoriously expensive fabrication facilities.
Professor Huang himself realised the importance of blue light, and set to work on improving and developing blue light-emitting polymers, and in particular a class of polymer known as the polyfluorenes. In his work with Professor Alan Heeger, himself the winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Professor Huang was able to devise a synthetic route that would allow blue purity to be achieved, a key challenge in the synthesis of these polymers, and one that Jim Feast, a pioneer of plastic electronics, would understand.
Professor Huang's more recent work on graphene is equally noteworthy. Graphene is the new hope of organic electronics, and has a multitude of applications. Professor Huang has been developing processing routes to create wires of graphene that can be used in biosensing applications. The ability to detect molecules quickly and cheaply has the capacity to revolutionise medicine, particularly when diagnostic techniques are required away from hospitals and laboratories.
Professor Huang has not only worked with Nobel laureates, but also has worked with one of last year's recipients of a Doctor of Science honoris causa. Professor Donal Bradley CBE received his honorary degree in this building last year for his work on light-emitting polymers, and the two have collaborated fruitfully. However, this is not the only link between Sheffield and President Huang. Our two institutions have been working together for the past four years in teaching a cohort of students in Chemistry. Today, we have 20 Nanjing Tech/Sheffield students who are collecting their BSc degrees after a unique and deep partnership.
We are committed to educating students in partnership with Nanjing Tech, and in this unique scheme, students in Nanjing apply to take a Chemistry course, which involves spending their final year in Sheffield. In the first three years of the course, our own academics fly out to Nanjing to deliver their modules while Nanjing Tech academics also teach them for a Nanjing degree. This unique means of internationalising our teaching has been massively successful, as can be demonstrated by the very talented graduates here before you today.
Professor Huang has fostered an environment where internationalisation is a way of life in Nanjing. We are benefiting from his wisdom. In fact, so successful is the scheme that only one year later we started a degree in Financial Mathematics between the two institutions. Later this year, a joint Nanjing Tech/ University of Sheffield course in Materials Physics will commence. In fact, we have more exciting ideas planned for the future; watch this space!
In December 2011, Professor Huang was elected to the Chinese National Academy of Sciences. He is Chair Professor of the "Thousand Talents Program" and the "Cheung Kong Scholars Program." The first programme is committed to encouraging Chinese scholars to return to their homeland, as well as to bring leading foreign academics into China. The second is designed to foster innovation in China. China is gradually catching up on leading western countries in terms of citations and number of publications in scientific research. These programmes lay the foundations for this growing success, and Professor Huang is therefore making a real contribution to China's rise as a scientific force to be reckoned with.
Professor Huang Wei has a truly impressive publishing record, with over 600 papers to his name, and an h-index of 73. That means he has authored or co-authored 73 papers that have been cited 73 or more times. This is a huge achievement - better than that of many Nobel laureates - and reflects an astonishing mixture of impact and productivity.
Married to Minghui Ren, a senior executive in a large corporation, Professor Huang enjoys reading and teaching. As a successful scientist, an approachable educationalist and strategic thinker, he is a colleague of the highest order.
Vice-Chancellor, I present Huang Wei as eminently worthy to receive the degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa.
PS. 2. President Huang Wei's Speech
Dedicated to Belief, Faith and Confidence
Speech on the Graduation Ceremony 2015, Sheffield
HUANG Wei
Academician of CAS and President of Nanjing Tech University
Distinguished Vice Chancellor Keith Burnett, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good Morning!
First, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the University of Sheffield for awarding me the Honorary Doctorate.
"All the world is a stage". And this is truly a time of openness and innovation, a time when the Orient encounters the Occident and a time that calls for the east and the west to cooperate in the making of our futures. China and Britain are representatives of the oriental and occidental civilizations respectively. From "China Now" and "China Arts" a few years ago to the 2015 UK- China Year of Cultural Exchange, both countries are learning from each other and contributing to the progress of humankind by integrating traditional culture with modern civilization.
It has been five years since Nanjing Tech University and the University of Sheffield embarked on our collaboration in 2010. We have made inspiring achievements in talent cultivation, scientific innovation and cultural exchanges. Now, the Sino-UK Joint College co-established by Nanjing Tech University and the University of Sheffield will break new ground in the collaboration between our two universities. As the English proverb goes, one today is worth two tomorrows. Let us seize the opportunity together and promote the cooperation between two great countries in education, culture, science and technology.
Dr. Joseph Needham, the British scientist and historian, has done research on the history of Chinese science and technology. He pointed out in his monumental work that before the 16th century, China had made hundreds of scientific and technological inventions that were disseminated to Europe and directly facilitated the progress of western modernization. After centuries of depression, China has regained its vitality in recent decades. It is developing at an unprecedented speed and has made remarkable achievements. As the old Chinese saying goes, day by day, make it new, which means for every day on which you can improve yourself, let there be daily improvement. As a scientific researcher and university administrator, I feel honored to experience this passionate and great era with my colleagues and students.
The two decades between 1978 and 1998 was the time when China reconstructed its educational system and gradually conformed to the norms of international higher education. It was the time when China imported and assimilated the world’s advanced technology and scientific theories. It was also the time when China accumulated strength in scientific and technological innovation and higher education development.
The two decades between 1999 and 2019 have so far witnessed and will witness the booming of China. China continues to follow, but at the same time China begins to parallel in some research areas, and in a few directions, China even takes the lead.
In the future two decades after 2020, I am convinced that with the economic development of China, the fruits of technological innovations and the advanced philosophy of higher education will become deeply rooted and flourish in China. Chinese universities with with their own characteristics will top the ranks of world universities. I look forward to witnessing such progress with you.
As Isaac Newton put it, "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." The motto of Sheffield is "Rerum Cognoscere Causas" which means "To discover and pursue truth" in modern English. "The pursuit of truth" is also the fundamental principle upon which Nanjing Tech University is operated. On the graduation ceremony of 2015 NanjingTech post-graduate students, I delivered a speech on the theme "Dedicated to Truth" and gave my best wishes to the graduate students.
How time flies! Today's ceremony in Sheffield reminds me of the time when I received my doctorate in Peking University 24 years ago. Life is full of ups and downs as the moon may wax and wane. In my pursuit of truth and excellence, I have experienced the joys and satisfaction of fruitful achievements as well as the sorrows and frustration of disheartening failures. No matter what situation I am confronted with, I would listen to myself, a voice from deep inside that could free me from worldly troubles. No tribulation could ever jeopardize my persistence nor my dedication to belief, faith and confidence.
I would like to quote Shakespeare's Cymbeline, "Be not, as is our fangled world, a garment Nobler than that it covers: let thy effects. So follow, to be most unlike our courtiers, As good as promise." I would like to share this with you who are in the first flush of youth, and I hope you can also dedicate yourselves to your belief, your faith and your confidence.
I would like to conclude by reiterating my gratitude for your invitation and for this great honor. My best wishes to all of you. Thank you.
