We are in the new millennium. The beginning of the last millennium witnessed the leading role of China in science and technology during her North Song Dynasty, but by the turn of the last century, the Qing Dynasty was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 ?C 1895. The Eight-Power Allied Forces seized the city of Beijing, leaving the Chinese in danger of losing their country. Owing to the continuous efforts of generations, China has now resumed her weighty status in the world at the beginning of the new millennium.
  In the new millennium, scientific research innovation has become the leading factor in social and economic development. A nation's strength in science and technology is commonly held as the decisive factor in a nation's status in the world and its place in the international competition. In accordance with this tight international competition, our country has implemented the national strategy of "rejuvenating China through science and Education" by increasing scientific and educational investment. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education have accordingly launched the Knowledge Innovation and the Education Vitalization Projects. All this has provided a favorable environment for the development of scientific and educational causes in our country and an arena for the ambitious and talented young who are willing to commit themselves to these endeavors.
????In the preceding two years, to fully implement the national strategy of "rejuvenating China through science and Education", USTC has been striving to build itself into a world-renowned university by learning management experience for the running of schools from the world's best universities, furthering all the educational reform by means of key disciplinary construction and staff cultivation, and promoting knowledge and technology innovations. Up until now, the school construction work has been progressing rapidly and many achievements have been obtained, which indicates a good beginning in the process of making USTC a world-class university.
????To become a university of the top echelon, USTC must have excellent students, the best possible faculty, a first-class management staff, a top-level teaching system and many bases of research; USTC must reinforce the all-round education of students. Now we have the support of the government, the CAS and other sources both at home and abroad. We have the confidence that we can handle the difficulties that lie before us if we are united, adhere to the school orientation and spare no effort in our work. We shall endeavor to make USTC attractive to the high-school graduate and meanwhile make it one of the universities that enjoy the highest reputation among youth who will regard working at USTC as a most promising and critical first step in their life-long careers. Only when USTC graduates are as well-known as graduates from China's Southwest Associated University before 1949 or graduates from America's Harvard University today, can we say that USTC is indeed first-class. We have great hope in building USTC into a top-level world class university through the joint efforts of all members of the USTC family.
????In the light of our confidence in the overall school construction plan, USTC will have become a research-oriented school of appropriate scale, outstanding quality, reasonable structure and distinctive characteristics by the year 2018. We have just made the first step in the long march toward our goal. There will be plenty of work for us to do for considerable time. We have no other alternative but to meet these challenges by taking every opportunity and holding firmly to reform and innovation.
????The new millennium is pregnant with opportunity. We hope and believe that we will enjoy the enthusiastic care and energetic support of our leaders and from persons of various circles. We welcome all those who are willing to devote themselves to the cause of education, including talented persons in China and abroad and the great mass of student youth, to join us in the development construction work that lies ahead of us. Let us join hands to open up a bright future for USTC.