Prof Yonghua Song is a scientist\nby training and an electrical engineer by profession. Yet he feels called to a\ndifferent and higher mission: to turn out identifiable talent for the country\nand a better world. This higher purpose now defines his life. To his scientific\nmind, his pre-UM personal story is divided into three stages: schooling, going\nabroad, and returning home. On 9 January 2018, the day he took over as UM\u2019s new\nrector, the fourth stage of his life began. Henceforth he will call upon his\npast experience and every fiber of his being to lead this university to its\ndestiny. To him, the rectorship is not simply a job; it is a mission which he\nwas born to fulfill. His actions and words demonstrate that he is ready for the\nchallenge.<\/p>
<\/p>
A Boy from the Village<\/b><\/p>
Born in January 1964 in a\ndirt-poor village in Bazhong city, Sichuan province, Rector Song, along with\nhis family, saw learning as the only ticket out of their inter-generational\npoverty. His parents, by the sweat of their brow, did the impossible–they put\nhim through college. His mother proudly remembers the day when he started\nschool at the age of six, then unheard of in their village. Soon, he became a\nfamous bookworm. He devoured books. He digested what he read. He had no time\nfor anything else.<\/p>
Later in life, in media\ninterviews, he would tell the world that the hardships of the hills taught him\nnever to stop trying to better his life, that no difficulties are\ninsurmountable, and that success comes one small step at a time. By age 16, his\nhard work had paid off; Song made it past the gates of Chengdu University of\nScience and Technology. By 1989, he earned his PhD from the China Electric\nPower Research Institute, becoming the first person in his village to hold a\ndoctoral degree. Two years later, another PhD degree followed, this time from\nthe nation\u2019s top-ranked Tsinghua University. Song was flying high. Then\nsomething happened that was entirely serendipitous. In 1989, he presented an\narticle at an international academic conference in Beijing. It ignited the\ninterest of certain scholars in attendance. Two years later, they invited him\nto the United Kingdom to deliver a series of lectures. That accidental\nopportunity proved a turning point in life. Thus began the second stage of his\nlife.<\/p>
<\/p>
Getting Acclimatised to a New Environment<\/b><\/p>
Song was to spend more than a\ndecade in the UK. Those ten years saw the full flowering of his professional\ncareer; he came to the attention of academia and industry alike. His career,\nhowever, did not take the conventional route favoured by Chinese students who\nstudied overseas and who usually sought gainful employment upon graduation. In\nSong\u2019s case, he began as a visiting scholar of the Royal Society at the\nUniversity of Bristol. From that tentative position, he managed to secure\nconcurrent appointments in teaching and research at several universities. He\nsoon graduated to administrative and managerial roles. But it was not all roses\nand sunshine, as he recalled in a later article describing those\nbittersweettimes. \u2018When I arrived in the UK, culture shock hit me hard,\u2019 he\nsaid in the article. \u2018All alone in a new country, I found myself surrounded by\ntotal strangers. Nothing came easy. But I realised that attitude was\neverything. I stayed upbeat and positive. In my early days in the UK, the only\navenue open to me were some academic exchange activities where I introduced my\nresearch work in China to local scholars. Only later was I able to do research\nand teaching at local universities. \u2018<\/p>
Looking back on that chapter of\nhis life, Rector Song says, \u2018No matter where you are or what job you do, you\nshould try your best to integrate into the local society. You must not be\nremoved from reality or be trapped in your own subjectivity. Instead, you must\ntry to see the world from the local point of view and melt into the local\ncommunity. Don\u2019t wait for the world to come to you.\u2019 He likes to say: \u2018If you\ndo not integrate, you cannot operate.\u2019 He is a man who obviously practices what\nhe preaches. At UM, no sooner had he warmed his seat than he began calling on\ngovernment departments and representatives from all walks of life to solicit\ntheir suggestions for a better UM. Within a few short months, in June 2018, he\nwas elected the first president and spokesperson for an alliance dedicated to\ntraining bilingual professionals in Chinese and Portuguese, an election that\nspells implicit trust in the new leader.<\/p>
<\/p>
The First Chinese Pro-Vice-Chancellor of a British University<\/b><\/p>
A perfectionist, Rector Song is\nlike the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who was famous for saying\nthat \u2018I have a very simple taste. I only want the best.\u2019 Success, however,\ntakes know-how and hard work. But he was prepared to be the best. When in 1997\nhe was appointed professor of electronic and computer engineering by Brunel\nUniversity, he was only 33 years old, becoming the youngest Chinese professor\nof engineering in British history. Better things were to follow. In 2004, he\nwas elected fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, another unprecedented\nhonour for an expatriate scholar. That same year, he was appointed\npro-vice-chancellor for graduate studies at Brunel University, the highest post\never occupied by a Chinese academic. It was the exclamation point of his career\nin the UK. In 2007, the University of Liverpool lured him away to serve as\npro-vice-chancellor and cross-appointed him as the executive vice president of\nXi\u2019an Jiatong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, China. In his own discipline,\nRector Song\u2019s research in electrical power systems, specifically in energy,\ninformation, and control engineering, has promoted the development of the\nelectric power industry. The research team he led has yielded fruitful results\nwhich have been adopted and applied by such industrial powerhouses as the\nNational Grid UK, and Siemens. He became such an authority on the subject that\nthe governments of Russia, Italy, Czech Republic, and Australia have all\nconsulted him when constructing electric grids in their countries.<\/p>
Looking back, Rector Songs says,\n\u2018Those years in the senior management at British universities gave me an\noverview and insights into the workings of higher education and how British\nuniversities nurture talent. I began to think how universities in and out of\nChina can benefit from these insights to produce high-calibre graduates. Those\nyears afforded me an opportunity to reflect on higher education and gain\npractical experience, experience which I hope to draw on in making a\ncontribution to higher education in China.\u2019<\/p>
<\/p>
A Talented Professor Returns Home and Turns Talent Hunter<\/b><\/p>
The year 2009 ushered in the\nthird stage of Rector Song\u2019s life when he was invited to return to China to\nserve as a professor of electrical engineering at Tsinghua University, and more\nimportantly as the director of an office in charge of recruiting talented\npeople from overseas. In 2012, he became the executive vice president of\nZhejiang University and the founding dean of its International Campus,\nresponsible for formulating growth strategies and spearheading the\ninternationalisation of the university, as well as recruiting talented people.\nSince returning to China, Song has been the driving force in promoting\ninternational education and exchange. He has built a network of relationships\nwith many universities in the UK, Europe, the United States, and of course\nmainland China itself.<\/p>
Why did Song choose to return to\nChina? This is a question that has been put to him many times during media\ninterviews. The reasons are numerous, the most important being the love of\nteaching. \u2018During my years in the UK, I never gave up teaching. I also have an\nintimate knowledge of how innovative people are nurtured and I hope to help my\ncountry create more high-calibre professionals,\u2019 he says.<\/p>
<\/p>
No Stranger to Macao<\/b><\/p>
There is great clarity in how he\nsees the challenge before him. \u2018Both mainland and Macao are experiencing rapid\neconomic growth. This calls for talented people in various fields who love\ntheir homeland, who are innovative, globally competitive and well-versed in\ncross-cultural communication,\u2019 he says. \u2018We need people who possess these\nqualities and skills to move our society forward. I hope UM will become a\nmagnet for talent. I will tap my many years of managerial experience in higher\neducation to meet this challenge. No stone will be unturned in serving my\ncountry and Macao.\u2019<\/p>
Rector Song spells out the\nreasons for joining UM. He says, \u2018First, UM is the only public comprehensive\nuniversity in the Macao SAR backed by the Macao SAR government and the\ncommunity at large. Second, its strategic geographical location in the Pearl\nRiver Delta region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area turns it\ninto a cornucopia of opportunity for the university. Third, UM is an\ninternational university with an international governance model, staffed by an\ninternational faculty team dedicated to innovative education, with ample\nresources, to make rapid progress in teaching and research possible. Fourth, UM\nhas a well-defined vision and mission I can totally embrace. Finally, my\nconnections with Macao go back a long way. As far back as 2002, I was already\nserving as an advisor to the Science and Technology Committee of the Macao SAR\ngovernment. Something else tugs at my heartstrings. The primary school I\nattended in my hometown in Sichuan province was destroyed by the big earthquake\nof 2008. The school was later re-built with the money donated by Macao\nresidents. Macao was therefore more than just a name. I had fond feelings for\nher long before I even set foot here. I\u2019ve always wanted to do something for\nMacao in return.\u2019<\/p>
<\/p>
Taking Higher Education to New Level<\/b><\/p>
During his first year in office,\nRector Song has proved his mettle as an education leader. He says, \u2018I am proud\nof what UM has achieved in teaching and research. I am also very proud of its\nfaculty-based system and the residential colleges to turn out well-rounded\nstudents, but we cannot afford to rest on our laurels.\u2019 Going forward, Rector\nSong believes that a strategic vision society supports is critical to greater\nsuccess. He believes that this university is destined to greater heights, and\nSong has the blueprint to take us there. In it, he focuses on four key aspects:\n(1) fine-tuning our education model to nurture talented students at different\nlevels and in different fields; (2) creating a work environment with harmony at\nits heart to maximise employee productivity and creativity; (3) turbo-charging\ncollaboration in research to output, innovativeness and social impact; and (4)\nputting community service high on our agenda and building a better platform to\nmake it happen so as to promote the socioeconomic development of the Macao\nsociety.<\/p>
To Rector Song\u2019s way of\nthinking, whether a university becomes truly first-class ultimately depends not\nonly on whether it can attract the best scholars and students, but also on\nwhether it can create a positive impact on the local and international\ncommunities. UM\u2019s vision is kaleidoscopic: meeting the needs of the\nrapidly-developing Macao society, offering top-quality education, carrying out\ninnovative research, serving the local community, and becoming a truly\ninternational institution. To the question \u2018What kind of graduates do we want\nto produce?\u2019 his answer is simple: They must, first and foremost, be able to\nmeet the needs of the local community. Their heart must inhabit the homeland,\nbut their mind must be globally guided. They must be internationally\ncompetitive, intellectually critical and creative and yet socially responsible.\nIn a nutshell, we want to produce future leaders and global citizens.\u2019 Rector\nSong himself embodies these attributes, with a wealth of experience at high\nlevels in higher education, at home and abroad. He is poised to take the\nuniversity to a place it has never been. He is acutely aware of the high\nexpectations of our governments, both local and central, and fully feels the weight\nof responsibility on his shoulders. But here is a leader who is equal to the\ntask, in aptitude and attitude, in determination and sense of destiny.<\/p>
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The year 2019 will mark the 70th\nanniversary of the founding of the People\u2019s Republic of China and the 20th\nanniversary of Macao\u2019s return to the motherland. To mark both milestones,\nRector Song says UM will organise a series of events to take stock of the past,\nshowcase its current achievements, and plan for a future where the university\ncan make a greater contribution to Macao and China.<\/p>