University plants the seeds for global role

The Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University in Yangling, Shaanxi province, set a goal to be one of the top agricultural universities in the world in 2034, amid celebrations to mark its 80th anniversary.

Sun Qixin, president of the university, told teachers and students during the anniversary celebrations on Friday that his dream for the school was to build it into a top agricultural university in the world by 2034, the 100th anniversary of the school.

"What is a top university? Top means excellent and leading," Sun said.

The university should nurture expertise among its students, provide high-class intellectual support for the development of the country and achieve outstanding academic standards, Sun said.

Established in 1934, the school has been a leading institution in agricultural education, research and development and is striving to play an even greater role in the country's social and economic development.

The Northwest A&F University is the only institution comprehensively covering various aspects of agriculture, such as forestry and water resources in China. It has 24 colleges and a graduate school, covering a range of sectors of agriculture, including science, engineering, economics, management, literature, law, philosophy, medicine, education and art.

Zhao Hongzhang (1918-1994), professor of the university and a leading academic of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, managed to breed a wheat variety named Bima No.1 in 1948. The seeds were planted over 600 hectares annually in the following years, a record in acreage coverage of a single wheat variety in China.

And the school also boasts an impressive number of scientific research and educational achievements in the fields of agriculture, forestry, soil erosion control and water resources in the past decades.

The president said that his school would inherit and carry forward the hardworking and innovative spirit and attitude of the school's senior scientists to further promote its scientific research and education, in order to make the school one of the world's top agricultural universities.

"I believe, we must be able to provide more indispensable intellectual support for national development and rejuvenation by 2034, not only in the field of science and technology, but also in the field of social development," Sun said.