On the morning of May 31,the completion ceremony for students of 2016 of International College (IC) of Xiamen University (XMU) was held in B102, Kunluan Building, Xiang’an campus. Leaders of IC, including President Zheng Tongtao, Vice Presidents Huang Guanhua and Fu Wanli, and Deputy Secretaries of the Party Committee Wang Yi and Wu Weiping attended the ceremony. Also among the attendees were all the faculties of IC, students of 2016 and parent representatives. The ceremony was presided over by Wang Yi.

The ceremony began with the solemn anthem of Xiamen University (XMU). Following that, President Zheng Tongtao gave a speech. He extended his warmest welcome to all the guests, parents and students, and briefed about this year’s graduates. He mentioned that over 300 students were about to leave IC to continue their study overseas or start working. 93% of them have achieved an academic records qualifying to apply for overseas universities. The rate of students going study abroad remains over 90%, which is at the top of same-kind colleges. He sincerely wished that the graduates would pursue their study abroad with proud and confidence, strive to make better results, behave well and be grateful to their parents.

After the President’s speech, Visiting Professor Duncan, foreign teacher Robin and manager of programme with University of Southampton Linda congratulated the students on behalf of foreign teachers respectively. They proposed that the students shall make as many friends as they can while studying abroad and make best of this experience. Dr. Chen Jing, Lecturers Gong Rongxiu and Yan Sa, and Assistant teacher Lv Dongru also extended their congratulations to the students and shared their own experience or life perceptions as a way of offering advice on adapting to local lives.

Following on were speeches given by representative of alumni Xu Hongjie and parent representatives Mr. Bai Wen and Mr. Meng Zhaoxiang. Xu was a graduate of 2012 London Programme who went to study in Coventry University in 2014. He thanked IC for the education he received and shared his experience of overseas study and current work with this year’s graduates. Mr. Bai and Mr. Meng extended their gratefulness for the care and education provided by IC to their children. They affirmed that IC is a reliable platform for those who want to have pre-departure education before studying overseas.

Zhang Jiaying, on behalf of graduates of 2013 of theBritish 3+2 MasterProgramme, and Chen Yixuan, on behalf of graduates of 2014 London Programme, looked back to their sweet lives in XMU, extended their sincere gratefulness to all the teachers and expressed their determination of studying hard while abroad in their speeches.

At the end of the ceremony, Certificates of Completion were given out and group photos were taken. Wish that all the graduates will carry on what they have learnt at school and create a bright future for themselves!

Background information:

XMU IC has 304 graduates this year. Many of them will pursue further education in 51 world-renowned universities in 8 countries and regions, including London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Manchester, Durham University, Tulane University, the Australian National University, the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales. For those who chose to apply for a job, the Big4 Accounting Firms, large-scale banks, SOEs and public institutions are their major employers. The rate of students going study abroad for the British 3+2 Master Programme is 90.3%, and 100% for programmes of Art Design (2+2), Queen Mary University of London (2+2), Sino-Japanese (2+2), and MasterofEducation and Master in Luxury Managementof University of Southampton.