When it comes to the top universities in China, it is natural that the University of Science and Technology of China is indispensable. This famous university that has driven Hefei to become a high-tech industry center almost single-handedly, has always been a pioneer in domestic basic scientific research and cutting-edge technology research and development.
It is said that a good university cannot be separated from a good president, and the same is true of the University of Science and Technology of China.
After the reform and opening up, the University of Science and Technology of China, which has moved to Hefei, ushered in a new period of development. However, just after coming to Hefei, the external resources were not as good as Beijing, and some of the universities that moved out of Beijing with the University of Science and Technology of China at that time have moved back to Beijing one after another, and some people's hearts have fluctuated within the University of Science and Technology.
Since 1980, the famous physicist Yan Keats has served as the president of the University of Science and Technology of China and has made a series of reform measures. Although President Yan Keats' term of office is only 5 years, he has done a lot of foundation construction and reform for the University of Science and Technology of China, which not only stabilized the hearts of the people, but also made the University of Science and Technology of China develop rapidly, laying the foundation for the University of Science and Technology of China to become a world famous university in the future.
Statue of Yan Keats of the University of Science and Technology of China
Yan Keats is a famous physicist in modern times, one of the founders of China's modern physics research work, one of the founders of China's optical research and optical instrument development, known as "The first person in China to study crystal piezoelectric effect", and has made great achievements in piezocrytallony, spectroscopy, atmospheric physics and applied optics.
Born in 1901 in a rural family in Dongyang County, Zhejiang Province, Yan Keats was admitted to the Department of Physics of Nanjing Higher Normal School (now Nanjing University) at the age of 17 with the first place in Zhejiang Province, and after graduation went to France to study for graduate school, and received a French national doctorate in science in 1927.
Yan Keats graduated from Dongyang County High School
Yan Keats, who had achieved success in his studies, was not attracted by the favorable conditions in France, but chose to return to China. After the founding of New China, physicists such as Yan Keats began to receive attention. In 1955, Yan Keats was elected a member of the Faculty of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (now an academician) and later the director of the Department of Technical Sciences.
At that time, the construction of New China was in full swing and a large number of talents were needed, but at that time, the country's scientific and technological strength was very weak, and it was difficult to meet the needs of national development. The Chinese Academy of Sciences brings together scientific talents from all over the country, and if it can use its own advantages to create a new university focusing on cutting-edge technology, it can quickly cultivate excellent scientific reserve forces.
On June 8, 1958, the Preparatory Committee of the University of Science and Technology of China was established, and Yan Keats was also one of the members of the Preparatory Committee. In order to make such a university can be founded smoothly, Yan Keats and others actively run, contact various departments, and be full of preparations.
On September 20 of the same year, the University of Science and Technology of China was officially established, becoming "a major event in the history of education and science in China", and Yan Keats was not allowed to become a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China.
Maybe even Yan Keats did not expect at that time that he would later become the president of the University of Science and Technology of China, and he was one of the most influential principals.
Because of the "support" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Science and Technology of China has attracted a large number of talents since its establishment, and it has been listed as a national key university in the second year of its establishment. Until the end of the 1960s, the University of Science and Technology of China, together with many universities in Beijing, moved out of Beijing as a whole. After several twists and turns, the University of Science and Technology of China came to Hefei, Anhui Province, and has since changed its development trajectory.
During the special historical period of the "Cultural Revolution", the development of the University of Science and Technology of China also entered a very slow point, and even once handed over to the main leadership of Anhui Province, completely without the "flesh and blood" of the earlier years of running the school. After the reform and opening up, the University of Science and Technology of China has ushered in a new stage of development. At this time, Yan Keats served as the vice president of the University of Science and Technology of China and began to plan the establishment of the Graduate School of the University of Science and Technology of China on the site of the former Beijing University of Science and Technology. As the first graduate school in the country, the college has always received strong support from Yan Keats and others, and after its establishment, Yan Keats personally served as the first dean. At this time, the University of Science and Technology of China also opened the country's first talented juvenile class.
In the early 1980s, a vigorous wave of education reform was set off in China. In April 1980, Yan Keats began to take the helm of the University of Science and Technology of China, carrying out drastic reforms, which greatly promoted the process of becoming a first-class university.
University of Science and Technology of China
The first major promotion is to improve the talent training system of the University of Science and Technology of China.
In July 1980, President Yan Keats presided over the work conference of the University of Science and Technology of China in Beijing, which determined the training goal of cultivating a complete system of high-level bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees of the University of Science and Technology of China, thus establishing a complete degree system for the three-level degree awarded by the University of Science and Technology of China.
At the same time, the University of Science and Technology of China has also begun to implement the credit system, and has implemented measures such as exemption, electives, and skipping grades in the school, so that students can complete their studies in a variety of ways according to their actual situation;
In 1985, the University of Science and Technology of China also opened a pilot class for teaching reform regardless of department major, setting up a major and minor system, a double degree system, and a trial tutor system, which can separately formulate training plans for students with excellent grades.
Through the reform of various measures, the talent training system of the University of Science and Technology of China has been gradually improved, creating a solid institutional foundation for the cultivation of talents at all levels.
The second major promotion is to improve the level of talent training and scientific research.
From its inception, the University of Science and Technology of China has been positioned to build a world-class university and cultivate top talents needed by the country.
After Yan Keats became the president, he added some departments and majors in emerging technologies that were urgently needed at that time, so that the University of Science and Technology of China cultivated a large number of talents needed by the country at that time and rushed to various fields needed by society.
In school, students do not only stay in textbooks, but also participate in more scientific research activities to improve the level of scientific research. Yan Keats encourages students to participate in the school's scientific research work as soon as possible, sets up special fees for student scientific research, opens some laboratories for students to use, and encourages students to enter the forefront of science and technology.
At the same time, in order to further improve the teaching level of the school, Yan Keats actively supports the cooperation and exchange between the school and foreign institutions such as the University of Tokyo in Japan, and selects young and middle-aged teachers to train abroad. In the past 5 years, a large number of outstanding young and middle-aged teachers have gone abroad for further study, and after returning, they have become the backbone of teaching and scientific research of the University of Science and Technology of China.
The third promotion is to win a large number of high-quality resources for the University of Science and Technology of China.
In the list of key construction universities listed by the state during the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period, there was no University of Science and Technology of China at the beginning. In December 1983, Yan Keats wrote to the central leading comrades, stating the resources and strength of the University of Science and Technology of China, which made the University of Science and Technology of China one of the 10 universities under national key construction during the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period.
At the same time, he also actively visited the leaders of Anhui Province and Hefei City, and won the strong support of the local government for the construction of the new campus. It is also because the expansion of the school has been completed, and the University of Science and Technology of China has finally made up its mind to stay in Hefei.
During Yan Keats' tenure, the University of Science and Technology of China also created the first major scientific project in China's universities, the National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, which also opened a new era of large laboratories stationed in colleges and universities.
In the past few years, the work of the University of Science and Technology of China has been rapidly restored and developed, and the first batch of doctors in China have been trained, the professional level of talents is high, and talents in various fields can become the leaders in various fields after entering the work, which is known as the "phenomenon of HKUST".
National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory of the University of Science and Technology of China
In 1985, Yan Keats was too old to run for the school anymore, so he stepped down as the president of the University of Science and Technology of China and became the honorary principal of the school. Although he no longer presides over the actual school management work, his concern and support for the University of Science and Technology of China has never stopped.
In December 1991, the National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory of the University of Science and Technology of China held a national appraisal and acceptance ceremony, and the university invited Yan Keats, honorary president of the University of Science and Technology of China, to attend the ceremony in Hefei. At that time, Yan Keats was 91 years old and still braved the cold winter, which was enough to see the importance he attached to the University of Science and Technology of China.
Today, although Yan Keats has left us, his contributions to physics and his efforts to build the University of Science and Technology of China have been permanently recorded in history.
Yan Keats attended the acceptance ceremony of the National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory
In order to commemorate Yan Keats, in 2009, the University of Science and Technology of China and the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly established the Yan Keats Physics And Technology Excellence Class, which is also known as the "Yan Keats Class", which trains high-level physics talents. Nowadays, the whole class has become a well-known top talent training base, including Deng Yuhao, the youngest member of the R&D team of the "Nine Chapters" of the quantum computing prototype, and Cao Yuan, a "graphene prodigy".
In May 2012, with the permission of the International Astronomical Union's Committee on the Naming of Small Bodies, an asteroid with the international permanent designation 10611 was officially named "Yan Keats Star".
Today's University of Science and Technology of China, "one academician in a thousand students, eight hundred master's and doctoral students", has not expanded enrollment for 20 years, adheres to small-scale, high-quality education, and is a well-known research university at home and abroad. It is believed that the University of Science and Technology of China will continue to work hard and soon become a world-class university, comforting the elderly, and setting an example worth learning from for China's modern education.
Resources
Fang Heihu (Deputy Director of the Archives of the University of Science and Technology of China): Warm People | Yan Keats: The University of Science and Technology of China is the pearl in my hand"
Guangming Network: "[Science and Technology Master] Yan Keats: A Lifetime of Pursuit of the Light of Science"