Author: Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporters Zhang Long, Gu Ling, Zhang Ziqi
In the autumn, Bai Yongyi, a 73-year-old teacher at Tsinghua University, came to Qinghai University again. Walking on the neat campus, this elderly man in his old age smiled and communicated with the people around him from time to time - "happy, surprised, very changeable" is a high-frequency word in her mouth.
In 2001, under the Ministry of Education's "Counterpart Support for Higher Education Institutions in the Western Region", Tsinghua University took the lead in providing all-round counterpart support to Qinghai University.
In the past 20 years, a group of professors and experts have taken root in the plateau and regarded the development of Qinghai University as an unshirkable responsibility.
Thousands of miles of watch, hand in hand, Qinghai University has also gradually grown from an ordinary university in the western region to a national "world-class discipline construction university", a national "211 Project" key construction university, a joint construction university between ministries and provinces, and a national "central and western university comprehensive strength improvement project" university...
Dong Quanmin, vice president of the College of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences of Qinghai University (third from left), and students collect specimens of pasture herbs (pictured on September 25). Courtesy of respondents
"If you want to send your ambition to Qinghai, Mingyue He was once two townships"
Bai Yongyi has been to the plateau more than 50 times, and she clearly remembers what she looked like when she first came to Qinghai University. On September 3, 2001, as the former director of the Party Office of Tsinghua University, Bai Yongyi coordinated all aspects of Tsinghua University's counterpart support work. When he first arrived in Qinghai, he saw that "the school buildings, libraries, and experimental equipment were all backward", Bai Yongyi had a heavy heart and deeply felt that the task was arduous.
Since then, Bai Yongyi has formed an indissoluble relationship with Qinghai. Design support plans, recommend candidates for the Youth Teaching Corps, set course goals... Everything is big and small, and it is all about giving.
Tsinghua University has 4 well-known experts and scholars to Qinghai University as presidents, 19 high-level experts and professors as heads of faculties, 10 groups of professors to guide the construction of disciplines and majors, and more than 1,000 experts and professors to give lectures.
In Bai Yongyi's view, "righteousness without hesitation" is the characteristic of Tsinghua teachers.
In 2013, Wang Guangqian, a professor in the Department of Water Conservancy and Hydropower Engineering at Tsinghua University's School of Civil Engineering and Hydraulic Engineering, who was on a business trip, received a phone call asking for advice on his assignment to Qinghai. "The organization thinks I'm a good fit, so I go." Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Guangqian became the fourth president of Tsinghua University to Qinghai, and also became the first academician in the history of Qinghai University and Qinghai higher education.
The School of Foreign Languages of Qinghai University is tightly trained and the teachers are highly mobile. Hou Chengyuan, a retired teacher at tsinghua university's School of Foreign Languages, met Bai Yongyi on campus, and without saying a word, he agreed to the request to teach at Qinghai University, "Good! I just wanted to make some contributions to the development of education in the western region, so I went to Qinghai University. ”
Qinghai University wants to establish a department of computer application and technology, but the school does not have computer professionals. Tsinghua University immediately thought of Professor Zhou Lizhu, who had just retired: "Helping Qinghai University set up a department of computer science, I would like to invite you to be the head of the department." As soon as Bai Yongyi opened his mouth, Zhou Lizhu agreed very happily. To date, Tsinghua University has selected five professors to continue to serve as the head of the Department of Computer Application and Technology of Qinghai University.
Beijing and Xining, 1600 kilometers apart, have scientific research projects and teaching tasks at Tsinghua University. Landing in Xining at night, flying back to Beijing the next morning, and sometimes even flying back and forth in a day, has become the norm for counterpart support teachers. "Flying Principal" and "Flying Professor" became their common labels.
In 2013, Mei Shengwei, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University, also came to Qinghai. As an expert in power system automation, he has long been engaged in the research of power system safety control and efficient utilization of new energy.
"West-to-east power transmission is a major national project, Qinghai is a big clean energy province, how to effectively use them is not only a topic in Qinghai, but also a major issue for the country." Qinghai is rich in solar energy resources and is an important highland of the country's new energy industry, where we will make a difference. Mei Shengwei said.
The Mid-Autumn Festival in 2021 happens to be Mei Shengwei's birthday. After finishing his work at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Mei Shengwei flew to Qinghai overnight. The Mid-Autumn Festival family reunion, Mei Shengwei is often separated from his family. This year is the eighth year of his counterpart to aid youth, compared with the 3-year period of ordinary youth aid cadres, he has "served for a long time". But Mei Shengwei said: "Qinghai has a vast sky, we are doing business in the place closest to the sun, and celebrating our birthdays in the place closest to the moon." ”
Mei Shengwei, vice president of Qinghai University and professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University, conducts research in the photovoltaic industry research center (photo taken on August 8). Respondents provided
"There are plane trees at home, and the phoenix comes to inhabit"
"In the past, herders weaned the ewe 4 to 6 months after giving birth; after our research guidance, the ewe can now be weaned in 60 days, the lactation period has been shortened by 3 months, and the ewe's dependence on the grass has decreased." Hou Shengzhen, professor of the College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry of Qinghai University and chief expert of the Qinghai Sheep Industry Technology Research and Development and Incubation Platform, said.
An autumn rain and a cold. Mist shrouded the vast Jinyintan grassland, and Hou Shengzhen took students to collect data on the grassland related to the feeding of tibetan sheep groups.
The number of Tibetan sheep in Qinghai Province is more than 12 million, accounting for about 46% of the total number of Tibetan sheep in China, and the Tibetan sheep industry is the pillar industry and basic industry of Qinghai's pastoral economy.
"Tsinghua University has brought us talents and resources, allowing us to enjoy dividends in terms of interdisciplinarity, and now we are considering how to combine plateau agriculture and animal husbandry with mechanics and computers to create a big data platform for Qinghai Tibetan sheep." Hou Shengzhen said.
Qinghai, which is located in the "third pole" of the earth, has special climatic conditions and its ecological status is extremely important. The comparative advantages of high altitude, abundant sunshine, cold and dry, few diseases and insect pests, and excellent germplasm provide unique favorable conditions for Qinghai to build ecological organic agriculture and animal husbandry. However, the traditional backward production methods that have been formed for a long time also restrict the development of the modern animal husbandry industry, and the animal husbandry discipline, which is the brand characteristic of Qinghai University, often encounters obstacles.
Dong Quanmin, vice president of the College of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences of Qinghai University, said for example that in animal husbandry research, the growth data of cattle and sheep at all stages is a basic research and is crucial to all fields of animal husbandry. "In the past, the way we obtained data was measured manually, which seriously affected efficiency, and the aggressive behavior of cattle and sheep also made this work quite dangerous."
After the counterpart support work was carried out, Dong Quanmin became acquainted with Tao Pin, associate professor of the Department of Computer Science and Technology of Tsinghua University. "Teacher Tao Pin ran 46 times a year to Henan Mongol Autonomous County, which is more than 300 kilometers away from Xining, to study how the intelligent weighing system adapts to the winter of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and after continuous assembly and transformation, the original 250,000 yuan of equipment now only needs 90,000 yuan." Dong Quanmin said that on the basis of accumulating scientific data on the growth process of cattle and sheep, we will further develop and build an information management platform for ecological animal husbandry in alpine grasslands. Let science and technology empower cattle and sheep, but also let the animal husbandry discipline of Qinghai University embark on the "high speed" of information technology, opening up a broader sky.
In 2006, with the support of the Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University joined hands with Northwest A&F University, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Beijing University of Chemical Technology to form a team to promote the development of Qinghai University in an all-round way. With the active support and cooperation of various supporting universities, Qinghai University has gradually formed a new pattern of joint support for universities, joint service for regional and national strategies, and joint support for local economic and social development based on its advantageous and characteristic disciplines, combined with the characteristics of the geographical location of the region.
The traditional advantageous disciplines have opened up horizons and expanded the "circle of friends". Dong Quanmin's team is currently conducting research on the restoration of degraded grasslands, he said: "Now in our research team, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou University, Northwest A&F University and other universities are coming together to contribute to the development of china's plateau agriculture and animal husbandry on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau." ”
Relying on qinghai's characteristic resources, the new disciplines aimed at the "head discipline" in the early stage of construction. In 2013, Mei Shengwei's team established a new energy discipline in Qinghai University, and founded a new energy photovoltaic industry research center and a new energy industry test base, which adopted the most advanced solar frontier technology at home and abroad to provide technical and talent support for the development of the new energy photovoltaic industry in Qinghai Province. The Photovoltaic Industry Research Center of Qinghai University has become the most fully functional research center in the western region and even the whole country.
There are plane trees at home, and phoenixes come to inhabit themselves. In Qinghai University, a series of advantageous platforms attract talents from all walks of life. Qiu Yong, president of Tsinghua University, said: "Originally, we were complementary support, and now we can change to 'counterpart cooperation'. ”
Qinghai University is also giving back and helping universities such as Tsinghua University and their teachers to achieve higher achievements. Professors Wei Jiahua, Zhong Deyu, Huang Yuefei and Li Tiejian of Tsinghua University have made a series of original and significant achievements around the conservation and ecological protection of water sources in Sanjiangyuan and the development and utilization of aerial water resources, providing important decision-making advice for government management.
"In the past 20 years, through Tsinghua University's all-round help to Qinghai University, Qinghai University has gathered many high-level talents, and new knowledge, new technologies and new theories have been continuously imported." Through the vigorous construction of the platform, the ability of Qinghai University to cultivate talents, scientific research and serve the society has been greatly improved, and Qinghai University has made progress in rebirth. Yu Hongxian, secretary of the party committee of Qinghai University, said.
A corner of Qinghai University (drone photo, September 28). Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Zhang Long photographed
"Huangsha wears golden armor in a hundred battles, and does not break the Loulan and will not return it in the end"
"Huangsha wears golden armor in a hundred battles, and will not return it until the Loulan is broken." At Qinghai University, this is a poem that has been cited as a motto by many teachers.
In the past 20 years, Qinghai University has achieved a qualitative leap, greatly improved its overall educational strength, and broken out a new model of leapfrog development of colleges and universities in underdeveloped areas in the western region.
In 2004, it became a "provincial and ministerial jointly built" university by the Qinghai Provincial People's Government and the Ministry of Education; in 2006, it became a doctoral degree authorized unit, achieving a breakthrough of zero doctoral programs in higher education in Qinghai Province; in 2008, it ranked among the key construction universities of the national "211 Project"; in 2014, it was approved as a national university science and technology park and a national new rural development research institute. In 2016, it was approved as the State Key Laboratory of Ecology and Plateau Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in Sanjiangyuan, in 2017 it entered the ranks of the national "double-first-class" construction universities, in 2018 it became one of the 14 universities in the central and western regions of the "joint construction of ministries and provinces"; and in 2019, it was approved as one of the 5 national first-class professional construction sites.
"'Zhibi Kunlun, learn to compete in rivers', I think the motto of Qinghai University is really in line with its geographical location, but also has a deep significance, so I wish our Qinghai University better and better!" Bai Yongyi said.
At a new starting point, how to achieve high-quality development of Qinghai University has become a common topic for supporting universities and Qinghai University.
Qinghai is accelerating the construction of a world-class salt lake industrial base, creating a national clean energy industry highland, an international eco-tourism destination, and an export place for green organic agricultural and livestock products. In this context, Qinghai University actively promotes the in-depth integration of production, education and research, so that the discipline professional settings are closely linked with the traditional industries and emerging strategic industries with relevant characteristics such as the ecological protection of Sanjiangyuan, the construction of Qaidam circular economy, and photovoltaic new energy that the state and Qinghai Province have focused on promoting.
What Mei Shengwei worries about the most is to cultivate a team of local talents in Qinghai. After eight years of construction, the current team is "vigorous, interdisciplinary and complementary" in his eyes. Mei Shengwei is proud to be able to attract these young people who are willing to endure hardships and are full of enthusiasm to the construction of the large-scale development of the western region and jointly devote themselves to the development of Qinghai's clean energy industry.
"The mission entrusted to me by the organization and Tsinghua should be to make long-term contributions to the development of the western region, not just temporary support." In Mei Shengwei's view, only by seizing Qinghai's advantages, cultivating more outstanding talents for Qinghai University, and bringing about a "double harvest" for scientific and technological progress and economic development in the western region can we be regarded as dishonoring our mission and winning victory and triumph. "We still have a lot of work to do in the future, and we must be willing to work hard and shine on the plateau."
"Counterpart support for Qinghai University is a political task with a glorious mission and a heavy responsibility. In the process of counterpart support, the two sides not only formed a deep friendship, but also realized the simultaneous progress and common improvement of assistance and acceptance. All supporting universities will closely focus on the characteristics and needs of Qinghai University to serve the plateau, accurately carry out support work, continuously innovate the counterpart support system and mechanism, optimize and deepen long-term cooperation, improve the work effect, actively help Qinghai University significantly improve its comprehensive strength in running schools, and continue to write a new chapter in counterpart support work. Chen Xu, secretary of the party committee of Tsinghua University, said.