Greetings from Wenzhou-Kean University
2025 NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS
Dear WKU community, alumni, and friends from all around the world，
Spring brings growth, summer fosters flourishing, autumn yields the harvest, and winter stores the bounty. In the blink of an eye, the year of 2024 has come to an end.
At this beautiful moment of bidding farewell to the passing year and greeting the new year, we extend sincerest New Year wishes to all members of the WKU community, alumni and friends from all over the world who have been supportive and caring.
2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the Chinese Ministry of Education's official establishment of Wenzhou-Kean University. In June, President Xi issued a letter in response to Kean University President Dr. Lamont Repollet, recognizing that WKU has become a landmark project in China-US educational cooperation. We are so fortunate to have been a part of this decade by witnessing, participating and practicing.
Standing at this crucial juncture, the cooperation and exchange between WKU and KUSA have deepened further. We have improved the academic research and teaching quality, built up a stronger faculty team, and harvested abundant achievements in talent cultivation. We are extremely proud of the hard work and outstanding accomplishments of every WKU member!
Looking back on 2024, we have adhered to the dual promotion of discipline construction and cooperation and exchanges, as well as advancing curriculum innovation and internationalization simultaneously. The Biology and Business Administration programs were listed as the Provincial 14th Five-Year Plan First-Class Discipline Construction Projects; Mathematics and Architecture programs were selected for the Municipal First-Class Discipline Construction Projects; the Basic Psychology course was awarded the Municipal Excellent Course Construction Project. The construction of the Honors College was steadily advanced, with two series of courses piloted, significantly enhancing students' academic abilities and innovative thinking.
Looking back on 2024, we have achieved progress of student enrollment both in terms of quality and quantity. Graduates employment rate and further education achievements drove progress together. WKU has enrolled a new cohort of 1280 undergraduate students, making an increase of 219 students compared to the last year. We have also welcomed 30 international students and students from Hong Kong and Taiwan regions as well as 294 graduate students. The minimum admission score for the students admitted from Zhejiang Province College Entrance Examination has risen by 11 points compared with last year. 90.45% of graduates has confirmed their destinations after graduation, with 75.15% of them choosing to pursue postgraduate degrees. The "WKU Leapers" Studio was awarded the title of "Zhejiang Provincial Maker Space".
Looking back on 2024, we have deepened our instrinsic construction, laying a solid foundation for high-quality development. We successfully held a series of events to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the university's establishment, including the first Seminar on China-US Cooperative Education in the Yangtze River Delta, the Zhejiang-New Jersey STEAM and Artificial Intelligence Education Seminar, the China-U.S. Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges Seminar and Meeting on 10 Years of Achievements at WKU. These international events were consecutively held on campus, further enhancing the university's influence.
WKU has been dedicated to strengthening scientific research and innovation and listed in the first cohort of Overseas Science and Technology Workers’ Home in Zhejiang Province. The WKU Center on International Communication Research was selected as a member of the Zhejiang Provincial New Think Tank Alliance. We have witnessed the World Young Scientist Summit 2024– International One Health Forum and the 9th Student Research Day held at WKU with record-breaking participation.
Looking back on 2024, we have promoted campus construction, creating a unique blend of characteristics and high-quality development. The Student Learning and Activity Center won the French Versailles Architecture Award, becoming one of the "Most Beautiful Campuses in the World". The third phase of the student dormitory project in the second campus has completed the acceptance of some buildings. The second phase of the faculty apartment project has completed the pile foundation and foundation pit support pile engineering. Three new planned construction projects, including the Art Center Building, the Gymnasium, and the Teaching and Experiment Building, have a total construction area of approximately 37,000 square meters.
Looking back on 2024, we have deepened international cooperation and promoted friendly exchanges between China and the United States. A total of 124 people from KUSA visited WKU in nine batches. We greeted 10 groups of American youth from KUSA MBA program, Chinese-American youth "Root-Seeking Journey" summer camp, and WELL internship and career exploration program. We welcomed a total of 201 American visitors, including 126 people aged 13 to 45 (ranking eighth in the country). A total of 416 students came all the way to Kean University in the United States for exchange studies throughout the year. The bilingual short documentary "A History of the Millennium Commercial Port in Museum Artifacts " has been shortlisted for the "Five Hundreds" China Positive Energy Online Excellence Collection and the 2024 Chinese Cultural Relics New Media Communication Excellence Recommendation.
Looking back on 2024, we have adhered to industry-education integration and rural revitalization to serve the local economic and social development. We have jointly established the "Wenzhou International Mental Health Center" with the Seventh People's Hospital of Wenzhou, and established the International One Health Research Institute. We have also launched rural revitalization project by cooperating with districts and counties such as Ruian, Taishun, and Cangnan. We have signed a government-university-research-industry cooperation agreement with the Zeya Town People's Government of Ouhai District. The project "Exploring the Regeneration of Zeya Screen Paper to Assist in the Protection and Inheritance of Intangible Cultural Heritage" has become the only case among universities in Wenzhou which selected for the Third Session of University Assistance for Rural Revitalization in Zhejiang Province" .
Ten years marks both the accumulation of the past and the launch of a new dream. Our steps towards greater heights have never stopped.
Looking forward to 2025, we will implement the spirit of President Xi’s important reply letter, move seamlessly towards opening up of education, cultivate talents through virtue education, comprehensively promote the connotative development of higher education and strengthen capability of education governance so as to accelerate our efforts of building a world-class high-level university.
Re-setting out, we dream higher. In 2025, we plan to recruit 1,430 undergraduate students, with 40 international, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese students. We will promote the dual registration project between WKU and KUSA and the international student talent program. We will also accelerate the construction of the third phase of student dormitory area and the second phase of the faculty apartments.
R
e-setting out, we have more solid confidence. By formulating and implementing the university’s 2025-2030 strategic plan and the "15th Five-Year" development plan, we will develop disciplines such as business administration, compute science, biology, and psychology, and explore interdisciplinary fields such as the integration of life sciences, medical care and health preservation, and artificial intelligence.
Re-setting out, we have closer partners. Next January, 181 Wenzhou-Kean University students will go to the United States for exchange studies, and 14 students from Kean University will come to Wenzhou to study. We will initiate 13 American youth exchange programs throughout the year, with an estimated exchange of over 280 people.
Embracing the new year, we boldly forge ahead.
In the new year, may we walk together, traverse mountains and seas with faith, respond to the times with hard work, and jointly write a more glorious chapter for WKU!
2025, may all of you have a bright future and a promising journey ahead.
Wenzhou-Kean University
December 31, 2024
