On the morning of October 18th, 2019, the Inauguration Ceremony of the School of Global Governance, Renmin University of China was successfully held in the Mingde Main Building, RUC. The newly established school is committed to the construction of disciplines concerning international organizations, cultivating talentsfor international organizations, and conducting researches on international organizations. As a result, the school aims to provide guidance, support, and protection for RUC studentswhose study or work is related to international organizations.

Chen Jian, former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, Wang Lin, Director of the Graduate Employment Division of the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, He Changchui, former Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Song Yunfu, former senior official of the World Health Organization, Wang Zhijia, former Special Coordinator of the United Nations Environment Programme, XueYuxue, former Director of the United Nations Development Programme in Afghanistan and Indonesia, Zhang Nan, Director of theChina Office of the United Nations Development Programme, and Zhang Ning, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Scholarship Council, attended the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Du Peng, Vice President of RUC.

On behalf of the university, Liu Wei expressed his gratitude to all parties who had supported the establishment and development of the School of Global Governance. “As the Chinese economy grows stronger”, said Liu Wei, “its international status and influence are also increasing with each passing day, making it an urgent task to further make China’s voice heard in the global arena and accordingly boost the country’s influence in international organizations by adhering to the concept of global governance featuring consultation and collaboration for shared benefits. This is also closely related to the talent cultivation of universities in the new era.”

Liu Wei stated that RUC, as the first comprehensive research university founded by the People’s Republic of China, has been actively responded to the call of the central authority and the era, continuously exploring the Chinese path and plan for cultivating inter disciplinarytalents with international perspective, and remaining committed to building a highland for talent cultivation. According to the innovativetraining model featuring“teaching as the mainstay, practice as the guide, and resource as shared benefits”, the School of Global Governance will give full play to the university’s academic strength as one of the universities included in the “double world-class project”, and strengthen its cooperation with relevant international organizations. More specifically, the school will strive to improve the quantity and quality of qualified studentssent to international organizations with its high-quality faculty team, science-based training system, refined recommendation channel, and sound institutional guarantee. With these efforts, the university aims to set an example for the cultivation of talents interested in international organizationsand global governance in domestic universities, further improving the internationalization and competitiveness of the university’s talent cultivation so as to better serve the national development strategy and empower the university’s “double first-class” construction.

Zhang Ning congratulated the founding of the school. He stated that as China grows into a major power, it is increasingly moving close to the center of the world stage. As a result, the country urgently needs to cultivate a large number of talents as reserves for international organizations. The establishment of the School of Global Governancemeets precisely the need for the cultivation of global talents in the new era. He hopes that the school will meet the quality requirements of international talents, cultivatinginter-disciplinary talents with international perspective, sufficient international knowledge, fluent language proficiency, and cross-cultural communication and exchange capabilities.

Following their speeches, Liu Wei, Chen Jian, Wang Lin, and Zhang Ning jointly unveiled the plaque of the School of Global Governance.

Liu Wei then presented appointment letters to seven specially-appointed consultants, including Chen Jian, former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and nine specially-appointed tutors, including Professor Cheng Dawei from the School of Economics, RUC.

Following the inauguration ceremony, an expert symposium was held, which was presided by Shi Yan’an, the Executive Dean of the School of Global Governance.