RWTH Alumni Association Founded in Shanghai
With around 50 alumni, the founding ceremony of the Shanghai RWTH Aachen Alumni Association, which is now also a member of the Shanghai Overseas Returned Scholars Association (SORSA), took place on April 1, 2023 at the Home of Overseas Returned Scholars in Shanghai. After the foundation of the first RWTH Alumni Association in Beijing in 2008, there is now a second RWTH alumni organization in China. The ceremony was attended by the director of the membership department of SORSA, Chen Yanqiang, the renowned researcher Liu Yanlin, the president of the German branch of SORSA Li Zhenyu and Zhou Weidong, president of the Hamburg alumni association of SORSA.
The First Board
Chen Yanqiang, Director of the Membership Department of SORSA, then read out the "Official Approval of the Establishment of the RWTH Aachen Alumni Association under SORSA" and the list of members of the first Board of Directors. Dr. Tao Xuening will serve as the founding president for the first term. He will be assisted by Chen Min and Tao Xiangqing as vice presidents, Liu Guozhen as secretary general, and Zhang Xi, Li Fan, Zhang Jiaosuo, Jiang Wei and Xu Xiaoqi as advisory board members. At the end of his speech Chen Yanqiang handed over the foundation certificate to the responsible persons of the RWTH Aachen Alumni Association Shanghai.
Congratulations and Good Wishes
In a video speech, Wu Zhiqiang, Executive Vice President of SORSA and senior academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, first congratulated them on the establishment of the new alumni association and expressed his expectation that the association would help to intensify alumni activities. In other congratulatory speeches, Li Zhenyu and Zhou Weidong expressed their hopes for the positive development of the new alumni association.
Professor Bernd Markert, Rectorate Representative for RWTH Aachen University Alumni, Dietrich Hunold, Coordinator of the Central Alumni Network, Professor Guo Yubao, Professor of Mathematics at RWTH Aachen University and Academic Director of the RWTH Aachen University Liaison Office, Du Shengyong, Vice President of the German-Austrian branch of SORSA and Secretary General of the RWTH Aachen Chinese Alumni Association in Beijing, were present via video. Professor Markert congratulated on behalf of RWTH and encouraged the alumni association to cooperate with many activities that will strengthen the alumni's contact with their alma mater.
Thanks from the Board of Directors, Technical Presentations and Discussions
Tao Xuening, the first president of the RWTH Aachen Alumni Association Shanghai, thanked all congratulators and alumni for their trust on behalf of the board. He said that the alumni association will work hard to push forward the goals that have been jointly agreed upon.
After two technical presentations, there was finally a lively alumni discussion on the topic of "freedom of expression". The event ended with a joint group photo.