Anniversary of congratulatory messages marked

Shenzhen MSU-BIT University (SMBU) held a ceremony Thursday on its Longgang campus to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the congratulatory messages sent by President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In 2017, Xi and Putin both sent congratulatory messages to celebrate the inaugural semester of SMBU, the first Sino-Russian cooperative university.

A Russian-style art performance given by the university’s students and teachers. Photos by Sun Yuchen

The celebration Thursday started with Russian-style art performances given by the university’s students and teachers.

Igor Morgulov, Russian ambassador to China, sent a congratulatory letter where he congratulated SMBU on the completion of its first five-year plan and recognized the university’s contribution to cultivating talented students.

Morgulov hoped SMBU continues to enhance the education cooperation as well as the friendship between the people of both countries.

Zhang Hanhui, Chinese ambassador to Russia, said in a congratulatory letter that SMBU has cultivated a batch of high-quality talents who are proficient in both Chinese and Russian cultures and languages and show high professionalism. He hoped for SMBU’s greater contributions to the cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Li Hezhang, rector of SMBU, said at the ceremony that SMBU has achieved remarkable achievements over the past five years with concerted efforts from different sectors of society. SMBU placed third in the cooperative university rankings released by China’s GDI Think Tank this May.

Li Hezhang (L), rector of Shenzhen MSU-BIT University (SMBU), and Hu Xiaoyuan, general manager the finance department of Postal Savings Bank of China's Shenzhen branch, celebrate SMBU's issuance of a set of commemorative stamps at the ceremony yesterday. 

In addition, at the ceremony, SMBU issued a set of commemorative stamps. The ceremony also marked the closing of the university’s first science and culture festival that lasted for a month since the opening of the new semester in September.

Built on the important consensus reached by Xi and Putin, SMBU is a nonprofit Sino-foreign cooperative university jointly founded by the Shenzhen Municipal Government, Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) and Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) with an independent legal entity status.

SMBU started to enroll students for its undergraduate and graduate programs in 2017 and for Ph.D. studies in 2018.