RUC Held Working Conference on “China Top Think Tanks” Construction and Presents Outstanding Achievement Awards

On April 3, Renmin University of China (RUC) held its 2019 Working Conference on “China Top Think Tanks (CTTT)” Construction at Yifu Conference Center. The conference conveyed the spirit of the enlarged meeting of CTTT Council and presented RUC outstanding achievement awards for CTTT construction. The conference was addressed by Jin Nuo, Secretary of RUC CPC Committee and Chairwoman of National Academy of Development and Strategy (NADS), RUC, and Liu Wei, President of RUC and Dean of NADS, and presided over by Yan Jinming, Director of Office of Research and Executive Dean of NADS. Also present were Zhang Jianming, Executive Deputy Secretary of RUC CPC Committee, and Wu Xiaoqiu, Vice President of RUC.

Jin Nuo, on behalf of RUC, extended her thanks to the faculty for their hard work in think tank construction and congratulations to commended units and individuals. She pointed out that the conference was held to sum up the results of previous work and plan for the work in next phases. In think tank construction, RUC adheres to the academic tradition of “education for the people and academic governance for the country” and provides the CPC Central Committee with a lot of bright ideas and suggestions to govern the country and promote the modernization of the national governance system and capacity, thus wining widespread recognition and praise. With the firm belief of being responsible for the cause of the Party and the country, we should properly handle the relationship between scientific research and work regarding think tanks, coordinate academics and national demands; properly handle the relationship between policy recommendation and steering the political course, align with the CPC Central Committee in respect of major issues and strive to be a watch-keeper, propeller and defender for the development of the Party and the country; properly handle the relationship between quantity and quality, insist on emancipate our mind, break new ground and offer wise and practical suggestions based on profound expertise and solid surveys. We should build a “RUC-branded” Chinese think tank with utmost care strategically and in the long run, further strengthen and advance university think tank construction. Next, RUC should make concerted efforts to develop NADS into “a world first-class university think tank that knows China best”, which will offer more good ideas for the modernization of national governance in the new era and become a distinct namecard of RUC.

Liu Wei stated that over the past three years, NADS and related offices, schools and departments of RUC had cooperated perfectly and made fruitful efforts and remarkable achievements in the construction of a top think tank platform, showing “reliability” and “indispensability” in three aspects. Core advantages are “reliable”: firstly, reliable professionally trained personnel, as high-quality policy recommendations come from high-level researchers and from a large number of outstanding RUC scholars participating in the platform; secondly, reliable team work, because the think tank platform integrates research resources from a number of schools and disciplines, and builds up “interdisciplinary and crossed” research teams in the form of research centers to form comparative advantage in team work and coordination; thirdly, reliable systems and mechanisms, since RUC includes think tank results in scientific research evaluation, sets up “think tank research post” while NADS has established mechanism innovation throughout policy recommendation research. Characteristic traditions are “indispensable”: the glorious tradition of always serving the cause of the Party and the people, the superiority of being in a league of its own in humanities and social sciences and the patriotism of running a university based in China.

Wu Xiaoqiu conveyed the spirit of the enlarged meeting of CTTT Council and indicated that over the past three years since the pilot CTTT construction started, RUC had made critical headway in serving the overall work of the Party and the country, promoting improvements in the policy-making consultation system, leading new think tank construction and gathering social sciences research resources, and contributed a lot to the development of the course of the Party and the country. Further efforts should be made to enhance ideological understanding, follow the law of work, insist on Chinese characteristics, highlight “new” requirements and push stable and long-term construction of top think tanks. With high regards for RUC’s top think tank construction, central leaders have repeatedly mentioned in meeting summaries typical experience of NADS in policy-making consultation, platform construction and innovation in systems and mechanisms, and fully affirmed a number of achievements RUC has made in CTTT construction.

Yan Jinming made a report on CTTT construction by NADS. Founded in 2013, NADS was selected into the first batch of CTTT pilot units and into top 100 global think tanks in 2015, and ranked No.1 among the “Top 100 University Think Tanks” in 2018. In respect of policy-making consultation, NADS delivers in-depth services for central policy-making, actively meets the needs of ministries and commissions and accurately integrates itself into local development; in respect of public diplomacy, it serves major foreign activities, raises the say in the international community, expand “the circle of friends” of think tanks and deepen high-level research; in respect of theoretical innovation, it proactively studies and publicizes Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress as well as the significance and experience of constructing think tanks with Chinese characteristics; in respect of social services, it continues to release hard-hitting reports and strengthen public opinion guidance; in respect of mechanism innovation, it consolidates infrastructure, upgrades the governance system, enhances internal reference management, comes up with new ideas for team construction and sets up think tank funds.

Zhang Jianming read out the list of individuals and units winning RUC outstanding achievement awards for CTTT construction.

Yang Guangbin, Wang Wen, Nie Huihua and Wang Lili won the “Grand Prize for Countermeasure Studies”; 

Ye Yumin and Li Wei won the “First Prize for Countermeasure Studies”; 

Qi Pengfei, Xu Qinhua, Luo Laijun and Zhang Nandiyang won the “Second Prize for Countermeasure Studies”; 

China Forum of Macroeconomic Research was honored “Research Center with the Most Brand Value”; 

National Governance Innovation Report, Studies on Russian Economic Development and Shuanghui Investigation Report were rated as “Deeply Influential Reports”; 

Yang Qijing, Cheng Dawei and Ma Liang were awarded “Figures with Media Influence”; 

School of Economics, School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, School of International Studies, School of Public Administration and Policy, University Office, Propaganda Department of RUC CPC Committee, HR Office and Finance Office were honored as “Special Support Units”; 

Liu Xiaoguang won “NADS Outstanding Scientific Research Award”; 

Wang Qun and Zou Ruirong won “NADS Excellent Staff Award”. 

The leadership of RUC presented honorary medals to these individuals and units.