ShanghaiTech University held its 2025 Commencement and Degree Conferral Ceremony in the Athletic Center on the morning of June 28. The center was filled with an audience including the 2025 graduates, parents, faculty and staff delegates, and representatives from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) institutes collaborating with ShanghaiTech. Honored guests seated on the stage included university leadership, heads of schools and institutes, and leaders from the Shanghai Branch of the CAS. Executive Vice President and Provost Yin Jie presided over the ceremony. Among the graduates, 400 received bachelor’s degrees, 539 received master’s degrees, and 293 received Ph.D. degrees.
The ceremony commenced with a vibrant prelude, featuring a heartfelt graduation video and stirring musical performances.
A vibrant prelude featuring musical performances.
At 9:00 a.m., the audience stood in unison to sing the national anthem, marking the official start of the Commencement and Degree Conferral Ceremony.
The audience stood up to sing the national anthem.
The first session honored outstanding graduates. Yin announced the names of 193 students who received the Graduate Excellence Award of ShanghaiTech, 70 students who won the Graduate Excellence Award of Shanghai, and two students in the joint program with the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences earned the Graduate Excellence Award of Beijing. Additionally, 10 students were awarded the 2025 ShanghaiTech President’s Award, the highest honor for ShanghaiTech graduates. Party Secretary Li Ruxin, President Feng Donglai, Vice Presidents Zhu Zhiyuan and Ding Hao, Deputy Party Secretaries Wu Qiang and Jiang Ge presented certificates to the outstanding graduates, with President Feng conferring the President’s Award.
The university leadership presented certificates to the graduates winning Graduate Exellence Award of Shanghai.
President Feng Donglai presented ShanghaiTech President’s Awards to outstanding graduates.
Liu Yutong, an inaugural graduate from the School of Creativity and Art (SCA), spoke on behalf of the Class of 2025, with a 3D-printed bouquet in her hand. She reflected on her four-year journey, from serendipitously choosing a design major to bridging research and creativity in interdisciplinary teams. Liu credited ShanghaiTech’s innovative environment and supportive faculty for giving her the courage to explore. Holding the bouquet to express gratitude, she vowed to continue using creativity and technology to convey warmth, create value, and inspire others.
Liu Yutong from SCA spoke as the representative of the Class of 2025.
Graduate student representative Chen Hongbo from the School of Life Science and Technology (SLST) shared his story of pursuing ShanghaiTech’s mission. In his research on 3D ultrasound imaging, he broke through conventional visualization paradigms by collaborating across disciplines to develop new frameworks. Faced with choices between studying abroad or entrepreneurship, Chen chose to join a lab-based startup, advancing medical imaging technology for clinical applications. He attributed his courage and capabilities to ShanghaiTech’s emphasis on end-to-end innovation.
Chen Hongbo spoke on behalf of the 2025 master’s and Ph.D. graduates.
Faculty representative Professor Chen Jia from SLST delivered a speech using gene-editing technology as a metaphor, inspiring graduates to engrave “frontier exploration, technology transfer, and ethical integrity” into their life’s DNA. He highlighted ShanghaiTech’s science-education integration model, which fosters a commitment to serving the nation and benefiting the people through research. Referencing his team’s base-editing technology, now transitioning to clinical applications through industry-academia collaboration, Chen encouraged graduates to venture into uncharted territories while ensuring their innovations translate beyond the lab, grounding them in ethical responsibility and humanistic values.
Faculty representative Chen Jia inspired graduates to engrave scientific spirit into their life.
Amid resounding applause, President Feng Donglai delivered a speech titled “Embrace the Nation, Serve with Dedication, and Live Boldly in the New Era.” He emphasized that the 2025 graduates form an unusual cohort witnessing ShanghaiTech’s rapid development with its inclusion of China’s World-Class Universities Project and commemorating the university’s tenth anniversary.
President Feng Donglai.
President Feng highlighted three defining qualities of ShanghaiTech’s spirit: commitment to the nation, dedication, and courage. During their studies, graduates experienced and shaped these qualities; after graduation, they will carry forward and embody them. He offered three aspirations for their future:
First, embrace service to the nation by committing to China’s cutting-edge innovation. Graduates should uphold ShanghaiTech’s spirit of national service, taking on the mission of building a science and technology powerhouse. By venturing into uncharted domains of basic research and deep-tech industries, they should resist short-term gains, realizing their life’s value through contributions to national progress.
Second, cultivate responsibility and leadership through dedication and service. Beyond excelling in their roles, graduates should seek opportunities to serve society and others, honing their ability to tackle complex challenges. This commitment will strengthen their sense of responsibility and mission, fostering leadership and influence, and shaping them into principled, service-oriented leaders.
Third, embody courage and resilience in facing challenges and upholding responsibility. Graduates should embrace ShanghaiTech’s spirit of courage, boldly tackling difficulties and persevering in doing what is right, despite the challenges. Courage, President Feng emphasized, is not recklessness but wise and steadfast action, a quality that can be cultivated through aspiration and practice. With time and effort, graduates will become resilient trailblazers.
President of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Xue Qikun, who is also the recipient of the Highest National Science and Technology Award, delivered the keynote speech titled “Youth Shoulders the Responsibility of the Era, Striving Forges Pillars of the Nation.” Highlighting the synergy between SUSTech and ShanghaiTech as “dual-city collaboration, echoing North and South,” he emphasized their shared mission of advancing higher education and nurturing talent. Drawing from his overseas academic and professional experiences, Xue stressed that “science has no borders, but scientists have motherlands,” urging graduates to align personal ambitions with national development. Using his team’s research breakthroughs as an example, he illustrated the importance of focusing on essentials with optimism, minimizing distractions to build a “low-entropy life.” He encouraged graduates to pursue excellence relentlessly, maintain passion for exploration, and scale scientific heights.
Xue Qikun delivered a keynote speech.
The 2025 graduates presented a special gift to the university as a token of gratitude: a parametric luminescent installation titled “Emergence.” It is a one-meter-tall glowing tree featuring cutouts of the buildings of 16 academic units with 19 interactive spheres on top of the branches carrying the voices of graduates. The gift symbolizes the fusion of technology and art, reflecting the enduring bond between ShanghaiTech and its alumni.
The glowing tree that graduates presented as a special gift.
A video featuring blessings from 38 ShanghaiTech alumni worldwide inspired the graduates to face challenges confidently, support one another, and pursue their dreams boldly. In a poignant tribute, under the guidance of ShanghaiTech’s Art Director Huang Xiaoman, students and graduates performed a poetry recitation of The Long March. Blending stirring melodies with heartfelt recitation, the performance encouraged graduates to forge ahead on their “new Long March” with innovation and responsibility.
In the final session, all graduates stood, moving the tassels on their caps to the left, signifying the completion of their academic journey. The ceremony concluded with the collective singing of the ShanghaiTech Anthem and Ode to the Motherland, uniting faculty and students in a shared commitment to the university’s future and the nation’s progress. As the 2025 graduates embark on their new journey, they are poised to become trailblazing thinkers, innovative leaders, and resilient pioneers, contributing wisdom and strength to the nation’s development.