Education is the key to development

Writer: Sun Yuchen  |  Editor: Jane Chen  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2020-08-25

A bird's-eye view of Shenzhen MSU-BIT University in this June photo. Photos by Sun Yuchen except otherwise stated

Irina Bokova (sitting), former director-general of UNESCO, visits Southern University of Science and Technology in 2016.

Students at a sports meeting at Shenzhen University in this 1985 file photo. Shenzhen University Archive

A bird's-eye view of Southern University of Science and Technology in this August photo.

Students at the 2012 fall semester opening ceremony of Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School.

Students at a graduation ceremony at Shenzhen University in this 2010 photo.

Foreign students at a Chinese character writing contest at Shenzhen University in this undated photo.

A student (C) is among the first batch of postgraduates of Shenzhen MSU-BIT University in this 2019 photo.

Shenzhen University, the first university in the city, was founded in 1983, three years after the founding of the Special Economic Zone, to help fulfill the region's craving for talents to contribute in all sectors. Outstanding graduates from the university in the past 37 years include Tencent CEO Pony Ma, Tencent senior vice president Zhang Zhidong and Giant Network Group chairman Shi Yuzhu.

With a mission to advance higher education in the city, the Southern University of Science and Technology was launched in 2011, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen was built in 2014, and Shenzhen MSU-BIT University opened in 2017. Earlier, the University Town of Shenzhen was jointly established by the city government and prominent Chinese universities to cultivate full-time postgraduates. Top Chinese universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University and Harbin Institute of Technology have already set up bases there.