In this news report, we take a look back at ten major events selected and voted by our students and faculty and staff members that shape the year of 2020 at Beihang University.
1. Making joint efforts to fight against the COVID-19 outbreak
Faces of bravery fighters in the war against the virus
Confronted with the challenge of the unexpected epidemic outbreak in 2020, the university’s leadership strictly adhered to the principles of “protecting the campus and caring for students and staff” while taking a series of measures to assist online teaching and distance learning. All staff members including young teachers, public security corps, community volunteers, property managers, canteen staff and retired teachers spared no efforts to perform their own tasks in the epidemic fighting.
In particular, Wang Jingyuan, an associate professor from the School of Computer Science and Engineering led a research on the epidemic prediction and control based on big date technology, providing powerful technical support for the epidemic prevention. Besides, many teachers and students voluntarily made requests to go to the frontline or the epidemic-center province to offer help at critical moments.
2. Learning the spirit of the fifth plenary session of the 19th central committee of the Communist Party of China
Beihang Party Committee Secretary Cao Shumin delivered an address
From October 26 to 29, the fifth plenary session of the 19th central committee of the Communist Party of China was held at Beijing. The session was watched by Beihang students and teachers via online live-streaming platforms and the guidelines of the session were then studied and implemented by Beihang’s students and teachers.
3. Beihang’s 19 programmes were recognized as the National First-Class Programmes/Modules
The conference on the theme of talent cultivation
At a conference on the theme of talent cultivation held on January 9, Beihang President Xu Huibin and Party Committee Secretary Cao Shumin awarded prizes to the representatives who had led the construction of Beihang’s 19 national first-class programmes. It is noteworthy that the approval rate of the applications submitted by Beihang in this year’s evaluation was 100%.
4. Adding ideological elements to specialized courses
In 2020, the university effectively implemented the idea of adding ideological elements and concepts to specialized courses to make a smooth combination or transition between specialized courses and ideological courses. For example, the spirits of aerospace exploration are introduced and stressed in some ideological and political courses. This new-type courses have been implemented at almost all the schools at Beihang, reaching a number of 45 in total. The pioneering education model was covered by CCTV Live News and became the news headlines in China Education Newspaper.
5. Beihang scholars won state-level awards and made great contributions to national space exploration
A group photo of Beihang’s scholars who won the national awards
On January 2020, the National Science and Technology Award Conference was held at the Great Hall of the People. Seven national awards were granted to scholars from Beihang, among which there are one first-class National Technology Invention Award, one second-class National Technology Invention Award and five second-class National Science & Technology Progress Awards.
Besides, 2020 has witnessed many breakthroughs in major space missions, such as the launches of Beidou-3 GEO-3 mission, “Tianwen-1” Mars mission and Long March rockets, whose development is supported by Beihang’s research teams or alumni.
6. Beihang teachers were awarded for their moral achievements
Sticking to the fundamental mission of “fostering virtue through education”, the university’s leadership stressed on the importance of teacher’s morality, encouraging teachers to act as positive role models. In 2020, the 4th awarding ceremony of “Beihang Moral Achievement and Talent Cultivation Awards” was held to honor teachers with noble qualities and publicize their impressive stories. Moreover, Academician Qi Faren was honored with the title of “the teacher with the supreme quality”, which is almost the highest honor for educators nationwide.
7. Beihang took on a new look both online and offline
In 2020, the campus construction has made new progress. For examples, the renovation and extension of the No. 3 Building at the Xueyuan Road campus has completed, with modern facilities such as “smart classrooms” being introduced in the construction without destroying the original style of the building. Meanwhile, all the buildings at Beihang’s two campus were numbered and named for standard reference. Besides, the university’s new official website was launched with “Smart Beihang” informatized service modules added to offer better user-experience.
8. 21-day “Clean Your Plate” Campaign was launched to reduce food waste
On October 16, the 21-Day “Clear Your Plate” Campaign and the fourth Investigation of the “12 Best Dishes at Beihang Canteens” were launched in tandem. In the past year, a series of measures were taken to encourage students and staff to reduce wasting food. For example, the school canteens introduced half-portion meals and self-service meals so that one can choose portion sizes based on his or her consumption needs.
9. Youth generations at Beihang shoulder the responsibility of the time
A group photo of researchers who participated in the development and experiment of Beihang-4 aircraft
During the epidemic period, the post-90s and post-00s generations at Beihang chose to devote themselves to the country without hesitation. When the country was confronted by the threatening of COVID-19 this year, Yu Hanming, who lived in the epicenter Wuhan, voluntarily enrolled himself in a community service program to fight against the epidemic outbreak. He also became the first student in Beihang who was approved to join the party through shortening procedures in a special circumstance due to his outstanding deeds. Wang Yukun, an undergraduate student from Shenyuan Honors College donated his bone marrow stem cells to save other’s life. Besides, a research team of Beihang students independently developed Beihang-4 aircraft, the red-painted near space rocket-powered aircraft, which carried out its maiden flight successfully on June.
10. 28 retired teachers were awarded the commemorative medals on the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army's participation in the Korean War against the US
On the afternoon of October 30, a conference on learning the spirits of Xi’s address at the Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War was held. At the conference, 28 senior teachers at Beihang were awarded the commemorative medals on 70th anniversary of the war victory. The medals recognize their dedication to the country at their youth time.
The most heart-warming news: Beihang’s first campus lightshow was displayed to bless graduates
From June 27 to 29, a 30-hour campus evening lightshow was displayed at Beihang, which was designed as a special gift for all graduates who cannot return to the campus due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The lightshow was live-streamed through online platforms, with landmark buildings at Beihang lightened to form different alphabets or Chinese characters.
Besides the live broadcast of campus lightshow, many other live broadcasts on themes of “orientation ceremony”, “graduation ceremony”, “campus return”, “aerospace exploration” or “poverty alleviation campaign” were made by the university to offer more colorful online experience for students, with a reach of over 26 million audiences.
Reported by the Publicity Department of the Party Committee
Edited by Jia Aiping
Reviewed by Li Jianwei
Translated by Xiong Ting
