Xiamen University held a forum for liaison representatives from graduates of 2017 in the conference room on the second floor of Huaixian Building on the afternoon of June 7. Thirty-six representatives from all the colleges attended this forum, including five international students from the United States, Thailand, India, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. For the first time Xiamen University appointed international students as grade liaisons.
Shi Huixia gave a brief review on the work of liaison first. She said since the establishment of liaison working system, 3,364 graduates have been appointed as liaisons. Shi introduced rights and obligations as a liaison to representatives in detail. She emphasized that liaison working system played an important role in collecting the information of young alumni and concerning about their growth and that was why many universities had implemented and constantly improved this system. She said that there were nearly 10,000 undergraduate students, master students and doctoral students graduating from our university every year and she hoped that new grade liaisons could serve as the bridge between alumni and the alma mater to provide timely feedback from alumni and to inform alumni of the school latest news.
Next, duty of a grade liaison was supplemented by Jin Peng. He noted that contacting with alumni through e-mail or newsletter in previous years could not guarantee 100 percent response rates. So he hoped that new grade liaisons could communicate with each other so as to do a better job. Later, Zhao Xiaohui introduced the function of the education development foundation. She pointed out that what the foundation promoted was not only the donation from alumni but a culture that encouraged alumni to be grateful and to love our school and she hoped that the foundation could also be an effective platform for friendship between alumni and their alma mater. During the communication, students raised questions freely and members of the faculty answered the questions raised.
Zhan Xinli expressed her warm congratulations to grade liaisons and made a concluding statement. She said that once became a student of Xiamen University, you would develop a lifelong love with Xiamen University and that unique feeling of love was the spirit of our school during the past century. She hoped that graduates could always bear in mind their mission and responsibility and could conduct liaison work with full enthusiasm. Zhan also stressed alumni donation culture. Mentioning the deeds of Shao Jianyin and Zhou Yongyong, she proved that donating to the alma mater was not only the inheritance of Tan Kah-kee spirit, but also the internationally-accepted logo and reflection of the culture and spirit of a university. So she hoped that every graduate could have a grateful heart. In addition, Zhan noted that internationalization was an important trend of development of our university and international students had become a powerful factor in promoting the internationalization of our school. Therefore, hiring international students as grade liaisons was important. At last, Zhan extended her gratitude for the support from the representatives present there and wished them smooth sailing in the new stage of life.
