Knowledge collaboration and all-round education
Ladies and gentlemen,
We engineering students take it for granted that technology is changing incredibly fast. We are thinking nervously and seriously whether our colleges are failing to provide a foundation in the skills currently needed in industry. Take my major telecommunications for example. Scientists say that 21st century is a biomedical time, not an electrical time. But without the help of electronic data processing and transformation, biomedical technology alone cannot go too far. Funny enough, the word biomedical itself is just a combination of two disciplines. So the interdisciplinary exploitation serves as the critical part for our electric and electronics world as well as any other fields to find new way of being.
But the power of knowledge collaboration is certainly not restricted to science and engineering; it is in the full community of learning. Walking around campus I absorbed a reality that there is a seamless web between students from different professional backgrounds. The engineering students are discussing animatedly in a philosophy lecture, speaking passionately in the public speaking club, and looking for sparkling ideas from learning history and arts. How wonderful that is! That, ladies and gentleman, is just a significant step forward to be well-rounded because once we jump out of the circle we can see the bigger picture.
My friends, I hope that you have already got what university is all about. Please let me end my speech with the Nobel Prize winner Li Zhengdao’s words: “The realization of the perfect combination of science and engineering, science and arts, technology and humanity, is the greatest symbol of a university’s success.” Thank you.
知识的融合和人才的全面发展
我们理工科的学生都知道科技在以一种难以置信的速度变化发展着。我们都在紧张和严肃地思考着是否我们的大学能够为我们提供一个适应当前工业需要的知识基础。以我的专业通信工程为例,科学家们说21世纪是生物医学的世纪,而不是电气电子的世纪。但是如果没有电子化的数据处理和转换,生物医学时代就不能发展。有趣的是:“生物医学”这个词本身就是两个学科的结合,所以跨学科的开发手段就成了电气电子领域以以及其他任何领域寻找新出路的关键。
但是知识的结合不仅仅局限在科学和工程中,而是在任何的学习中。徜徉在校园里,我看到了这样一个事实:理工科学生们在哲学讲座上讨论得热火朝天,在演讲俱乐部里激情地演说,在历史和艺术里寻找着闪光的思想。太棒了!朋友们,这就是我们能够全面发展的重要一步,因为当我们跳出自己的圈子时,我们能看到更大的图画。
朋友们,我希望你们已经意识到了大学教育究竟意味着什么。让我以诺贝尔奖获得者李政道先生的话结束我的演讲:“科学与工程,科学与艺术,科技与人道的完美结合,乃是大学教育的最大成功。”
谢谢。