Remarks by Seymour Topping on the Tenth Anniversary of Tsinghua University’s School of Journalism and Communication

Respected President, Administrators of Tsinghua University, Faculty and Students of the School of Journalism and Communication, Friends. I am Emeritus Professor Seymour Topping of Columbia University’s School of Journalism, and President of the International Advisory Board of Tsinghua University’s School of Journalism and Communication. Please accept my salutations.

On behalf of the world wide membership of our Advisory Board, I extend heartfelt congratulations on the School’s Tenth Anniversary. Abroad and on visits to the Tsinghua campus, our Board has observed with great pride, the extraordinary growth of the School. The School’s innovative curriculums and achievements over the last decade have been very much in keeping with the needs of the People’s Republic on its rise as a world leader.

As one example, let me cite the establishment of the Global Business Journalism Program created in cooperation with the Center for International Journalism in Washington. The program stands as a model for all providers in China of business journalism. It is the only graduate program fully taught in English. Its alumni already occupy key posts in support of the Chinese economy. The success of the School’s job placement program for graduates in general is outstanding among all universities. The enrollment in the School of about one hundred international students from some twenty countries is a major factor in Tsinghua’s transformation as the most internationalized university in China. The School’s faculty has made significant contributions to globalization through col laboration with journalistic institutions, like my own university, Columbia, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. The faculty has also produced a large volume of research to further inter-cultural communication.

I was privileged to serve last December as a member of an External Review Committee which surveyed the academic program of the school. It was the first time that a Chinese mainland University had invited a senior international team to conduct as such a formal review. The committee found that the reputation enjoyed by the School as s being the fastest in development and the most outstanding among the some 800 new communication schools and departments established in China in the last fifteen years was well deserved. The review committee also welcomed the intention of the School to significantly increase the number of international students and the number of its Chinese students to be given study abroad experience.

Permit me to conclude on a personal note. I have observed the evolution of Tsinghua University for more than a half century. In 1946, as a correspondent, I toured the Tsinghua campus which was in ruins after the war against Japan. I revisited the campus thereafter several times during the ensuing difficult years. I had reason to celebrate when I returned to Tsinghua in 2003. The University was thriving once again. The School of Journalism and Communication had been established in the previous year. I met with the innovative founding deans, professors Fan Jingyi and Li Xiguang and lectured at the newly opened school. Today, once again I am privileged to celebrate. The School has emerged as a world class journalism school and is forging ahead under the farsighted leadership of the distinguished deans, Liu Binjie and Hong Yin. On b ehalf of the International Advisory Board, I wish you well. We look forward to continuing close cooperation as the School boldly enters a new dynamic and challenging era.