On April 23, 2016, the “IET-Founder Universities’ President Award” was presented at the University of International Business and Economics. President Li Jiajun from Tianjin University was presented with the award and donated all the prize fund to Peiyang Education Development Foundation in order to reward outstanding students.
The “IET-Founder Universities’ President Award” is the only award for administrators of universities in China, which aims to raise the level of Chinese universities’ administration and improve the development of Chinese education. The IETF (International Engineering Technology Foundation) was founded by Dr. Wang Fengdan, a Chinese American, and Dr. Jia Shiquan and his wife in 1993 with a donation provided by the IET Company. The prize is currently awarded every two years across 26 universities. Every university recommends a candidate, and the candidate should be Party Secretary, President, Vice Party Secretary or Vice President currently serving or retired in the past five years. This year’s “IET-Founder Universities’ President Award” was jointly held and funded by the IETF and Peking University Founder Group.
As Li Jiajun has served as President of Tianjin University since 2011, he regards “fostering morality and cultivating the students” as the fundamental task of education in order to explore the development path of a first-class university with Tianjin University’s unique characteristics. He unites members of the university’s leadership closely and relies on cadres, staffs, teachers and students to deepen reform and improve the quality of all every aspect of the university, impelling its all-round development. He focuses more on cultivation of the faculty’s skills and aims at educating exceptional talents with the spirit of their home and motherland, a global vision, a spirit of innovation and practical abilities. And he implemented the “Excellent Engineers’ Training Plan” for undergraduate students and continues to explore innovative systems for cultivating top engineering graduates. As well as this, he has also comprehensively deepened reforms on the education of graduate students. He is strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship education and has established “Xuanhuai College”and the “Partners” Maker Space. In this time, he has donated all of his bonuses to reward outstanding students, putting into action his principle of nurturing student talent.
Party Secretary Liu Jianping gives his remarks at the Great Council of Alumnus.
During the 120th anniversary of Tianjin University, President Li Jiajun presented the first Chinese college diploma duplicate to President Gong Ke of Nankai University, who is also the former president of Tianjin University.
In 2008 and 2010, Party Secretary Liu Jianping and former President Gong Ke of Tianjin University won the award. In 2008, having been awarded the prize, together with 1,000,000 Yuan donated by alumni and enterprises, Liu Jianping donated all his 100,000 Yuan prize money to the establishment of an Endowment Fund, which is supervised by Peiyang Education Development Foundation, and he set up the “Scholarship of Outstanding Students Model of Tianjin University”. In 2010, former president Gong Ke also donated all his prize money to the “Scholarship of Outstanding Students Model of Tianjin University” Endowment Fund. The “Scholarship of Outstanding Students Model of Tianjin University” is the highest university-level scholarship in Tianjin University for rewarding elite students who display great character in their study or excel in their research, and have outstanding all-round qualities. This scholarship is awarded to 10 students every year, and every student receives a scholarship of 10,000 RMB.
