On December 27th, 2014, a grand celebration for the 50th birthday of Shandong Foreign Trade Vocational College (SFTC) was held in the Culture and Sports Center on Licang campus. Distinguished guests from home and abroad, SFTC alumni, retired faculty members joined in the celebration, reviewing the past 50 years of SFTC’s development and wishing a brighter future for the College.
Present at the ceremony were Mr. Liu Fanghui, Director of the Overseas Chinese Administrative Office of Shandong Province, Ms. Lv Wei, Deputy Director General of the Commerce Department of Shandong Province, Mr. Zhang Houji, Vice-Inspector of the Education Department of Shandong Province, Mr. Liu Xuede, Secretary-General of China international Freight Forwarders Association, and Mr. Wang Naiyan, Executive Deputy Director of the Instructing Committee of the National Vocational Education of Economic Relations and Trade. SFTC alumni, leaders from the Higher Education Working Committee of Qingdao, Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Licang District Government and cooperative universities and colleges, representatives from the local trade associations, enterprises, and cooperative institutions, SFTC retired leaders and faculty members also attended the ceremony. Messages and letters of congratulation flooded in from partner universities and colleges, the Commerce Department of Qinghai Province, other cooperative institutions and enterprises.
At 9:30 sharp, the ceremony began amid the Chinese National Anthem. Professor Yang Mingang, Party Secretary of SFTC and the host of the ceremony, extended warm welcome to all the leaders and guests present at the ceremony, and expressed gratitude to the faculty members who have made outstanding contribution to the development of the College.
Professor Diao Jiandong, President of the College, delivered a key-note speech. On behalf of the 10,000-strong faculty and students, he expressed the most heartfelt thanks to all distinguished guests attending the ceremony. He then, with deep affection, reviewed the 50 years’ history and achievement of the College. By highlighting foreign languages and international trade practice skills, SFTC has attached great importance to the cultivation of talents for foreign trade in the past 50 years and has made fabulous achievements. During these years, SFTC carried on the Party's educational policy in an all-round way, stuck to both moral and academic education, and succeeded in the cultivation of 40, 000 plus graduates, who have started up more than 3,000 sizable enterprises at home and abroad, including several listed companies, Top 500 import and export companies of China, leading import and export companies of Shandong Province, the No. 1 private shipping firm of China, and the richest person in Qingdao on the Forbes’ list. Among our alumni, numerous entrepreneurs can be found who have played significant roles in the foreign trade industry of our province. Mr. Diao also emphasized that the pioneers and forefathers of the College should always be remembered for their contributions, and the local government, partner enterprises should be remembered for their kind support in SFTC’s development. His special appreciation was devoted to the 40,000 plus alumni, the pride of the College. Among the alumni, most are ordinary people on ordinary posts in export-oriented enterprises, but they have become the backbone of the foreign trade industry of Shandong Province, and their hardworking has won positive prestige for the College. “Dear alumni, you are the model for all the students on campus, the pride of the SFTC. Your well-being is of the greatest concern of the Alma Mater, and your achievements are the most remarkable achievements of SFTC,” Mr. Diao said. The president also affirmed in his speech that together with other senior staff serving SFTC for 20 or even 30 years, he would lead the younger faculty and staff to keep on working hard, so as to create a brighter future for the College.
Mr. Liu Weijun, Party Secretary of the Common Foundation Courses Department, delivered a speech on behalf of the faculty. He imparted his best wishes for the 50th birthday of the College. As a senior teacher serving SFTC for over 30 years, he has been head teachers of 13 classes in the past 27 years, and has given lectures to more than 180 classes. As a witness of many landmark moments on history of the College’s development, he felt great joy and pleasure for being able to cultivate talents for the country and society.
As representatives of the alumni, Mr. Zhang Jianhua, Chairman of the board of Xiking Group and Mr. Yang Xianxiang, CEO of SITC International Holdings Co., Ltd, gave speeches respectively. They made brief introductions of their work, and expressed their appreciation to the Alma Mater, to whose cultivation their great achievements were attributed. For years, they have recruited large numbers of graduates from SFTC, who have become the backbones of their enterprises. Thus they regard the Alma Mater as the backup training base for their enterprises, and promise to strengthen the communication and cooperation with the College, and shall work even harder to make due contribution to the society and win credit for the Alma Mater.
This was followed by a speech made by Mr. Wang Xiuxin, Party Secretary of Qingdao Jiayi International Trade Group Ltd. Co., as a representative of the cooperative institutions. With a 20-year cooperative relationship, SFTC has been sending huge amount of talents to Jiayi Group. The two parties have been engaged in extensive cooperation in staff training, hand-in-hand perfection of majors, courses and staff quality, and internship and employment on the part of students. A mutually beneficial and win-win effect has been realized by means of a sound cooperative scheme, i.e. hand-in-hand cultivation of talents, resources sharing, joint management of training bases and staff exchanges. He spoke highly of SFTC’s graduates who are quick in learning, capable, with high English proficiency. Finally, on behalf of all the cooperative institutions, he extended his best wishes for the future of the College.
In the ensuing speech, Mr. Zhang Houji, Deputy Director General of the Education Department of Shandong Province, appraised SFTC in improving teaching conditions, strengthening teaching quality and the cultivation of talents. For 50 years, SFTC has cultivated numerous talents of high quality for the local economic construction and social development, who have received positive appreciation from employers and relevant communities. He made his wishes that the College shall take the 50th birthday as the new starting point, summarizing the past experienced and seize new opportunities to build SFTC stronger and with its own developing characteristics. Through scientific planning, the College shall develop more prestigious programs so as to nurture more talents for local economic and social development.
On behalf of the Commerce Department of Shandong Province, Ms. Lv Wei delivered her speech. She began with a warm congratulation to the entire faculty, staff and students as well as the alumni of the College, followed by a heartfelt thanks to the leaders and guests, who has been the great support for the development of the College and the trade industry of Shandong province. She echoed the praise for the College for its remarkable contribution to the foreign trade industry and economic and social development of Shandong Province. She hoped that the College would follow the needs of the economic development of the province, putting the industry and alumni advantages to full play, and constantly perfecting the quality of graduates, so as to build the College into a model training base up to the demand of the development of export-oriented economy and modern services in Shandong Province. She confirmed that the Commerce Department will work closely with the Education Department of Shandong Province and the Municipal Government of Qingdao to further support for the reform, construction and development of SFTC. She wished that the College shall quicken its development with Shandong as its developing base and cooperating with universities, colleges and other institutions all around the world, so as to contribute more to the development of the international trade industry of Shandong Province.
The speeches received thundering applauses from the audience, and the ceremony was submerged in waves of joy and excitement.
After the ceremony, a fabulous gala with singing and dancing was held honoring the 50th birthday of SFTC. On campus, long parted staff and graduates chatted and recalled their gold old days at the College. During the tours to the History Exhibition of SFTC and the Alumni Expo, everyone was overwhelmed by the profound history and the blueprint of a brighter future of SFTC.
Video interviews of the retired leaders and teachers, and 160 alumni representatives were played ahead of the ceremony. As participants and witnesses of the early-year construction of the College, then known as Shandong Foreign Trade School and Shandong Foreign Trade Workers’ University, these former leaders and teachers devoted their prime years to the construction and development of the College and to the growth of the vocational education in the foreign trade industry of Shandong Province. In the interviews, the former leaders expressed their sincere expectation for the future development of the College; the former staff called for the students to work diligently and devoted firmly their intelligence and talents to the country and society. The alumni recalled their life on campus in deep emotion, and extended warn appreciation for the nurturing of the Alma Mater.
Varieties of activities, including lectures by alumni, entertainment parties, on-campus cultural activities and a photo exhibition, were held for the celebration of SFTC’s 50th birthday. Students from different programs also held diversified celebration activities, expressing their best wishes for the College.
As the sole vocational college specialized in international trade education in Shandong Province, SFTC has weathered in the past half a century. Standing firmly on the cultivation of high-quality talents, the College will seize the opportunities to build SFTC a “Famous Vocational College”.
