At 9:30 am of September 15, the International College held a grand opening ceremony for freshmen in 2010 in the lecture hall on the first floor of the main building. Dazhou Yang, the Project Leader of Britain Higher National Diploma in Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, Ministry of Education, and the dean of the International College Tongtao Zheng, Vice-dean Hu Geng, director of the office Guanhua Huang, as well as other faculties and staffs in International College attended the ceremony, which was presided by the secretary of the International College Kunyu Zeng.

The Project Leader of Britain Higher National Diploma, Dazhou Yang, delivered an opening speech. He introduced the developments of Britain Higher National Diploma (HND). The project holds the concept of modern student-centered education and practices the teaching model of small classes, English teaching and process control. The goal of the project is to develop skilled personnel who have an international vision, perfect personality, and professional proficiency. At present, there are 26 colleges and universities in China carrying out this project, and more than 18,000 students and more than 10,000 people studying in school. After completing the domestic phase of study and obtaining the HND certificate, Chinese students can go to university in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Ireland, France, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries to study, or stay in China to get a job.

Yang presented his earnest hope for freshmen. First, he hoped the students could achieve their goals in life through the three-year study in the International College, i.e. being professional and improving their personality. Second, he hoped the students could realize their own strengths and weaknesses. Thirdly, he hoped the students could make their planning and carry it out resolutely. Fourth, he hoped the students could learn a foreign language and complete the project successfully. Fifth, he hoped the students could learn to respect others and be tolerant when conflicts occur. All in all, he hoped the students could adapt to university life quickly, and adapt to the teaching mode and method of international education programs as well as take advantage of Xiamen University’s varied campus culture and the outstanding achievements to enrich themselves and improve themselves, so that they could live up to the expectations of their parents and teachers .

Dean of the International College Tongtao Zheng in his speech proposed several requests for the freshmen and introduced several methods of learning English. He encouraged the students to allocate their time appropriately, acquire a good learning method and study hard. He proposed the requirements of “three Don’t”— don’t be late, don’t leave early, don’t miss class. He also reminded the students not to play computer games, and declared the strict appraisal system of the International College. As for learning English, Zheng stressed the importance of reciting the text. He said that recite was a must since language is based on memory. He also encouraged the students to participate in the IELTS test at the end of the first year , and strive to achieve good results. In addition, he urged the students to help each other, tolerate each other, coordinate with each other, and take part in extra-curricular activities.

The teacher representative Yingting Lin shared the experiences of arranging college life with the freshmen. She suggested the students to get the courage to try new things and to adapt to the new environment in a more open mind. As for study, she encouraged everyone to be brave to take the first step when faced with challenges. She also encouraged the students by citing words from Kevin Tsai: from today on, be open and be brave. Do not miss the beautiful scenery of your life just because you have given up.  You should have the courage to communicate with teachers, to recognize their own weakness, and to solve the problems.

Then, the student representative Jiaying Wu made a brief speech. She had already gotten 7 in IELTS, and she shared her feelings and experiences of the two years in our college. “It’s all right to fail when you are young, attempt itself is a victory.” she told the freshmen to adapt to college life as soon as possible, learn self-regulation, study hard, practice more and meet the challenges with the spirit of never give up.

And the freshmen representative Fei Chen talked about her feelings at the campus. “When facing the challenges, we should wipe away the previous glory and start from the very beginning.” On the new journey in Xiamen University, she represented freshmen to express their confidence and morale.

Finally, professors met the freshmen individually and expressed their heartfelt wishes.