Respected Chancellor Dr. Viswanathan

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning!

I am honored to be invited to attend the Silver Jubilee Celebration of VIT University. Let me, first of all, extend my warm congratulations to Mr. Chancellor, members of the faculty and students of VIT on this important moment in the history of VIT University.

Twenty five years ago, Dr. Viswanathan, a visionary founder, together with his capable colleagues, laid down the foundation for VIT University with the aim to provide quality high education with international standards to Indian coming generations. With your laudable efforts, VIT, today, has already become one of the top premier educational institutions in India and has been academically accredited worldwide. This is indeed a remarkable achievement.

As a dynamic and forward-looking institution, VIT has far reaching strategic and global vision. In the short span of 25 years, VIT University has not only consolidated its status in Indian education, but also established extensive cooperation with many universities abroad. I am happy to see that such cooperative ties are knotted with China too. More than ten Chinese institutions have established exchange programmes and cooperative projects with VIT University. Last April, when I came to your campus, I was surprised to see that about 400 Chinese students pursuing graduate courses here. In April 2009, the Chinese Language Centre, the biggest one in India, has been set up in this university. I am sure growing cooperation in education will greatly enhance the friendship and cooperation between China and India. I congratulate you for what you have done and solute to your noble efforts.

China and India are two great ancient civilizations, and enjoy long-standing good relations and friendly exchanges for more than 2000 year, learning from each other and inspired by each other. Today, China and India are both fast emerging economies in the world. If this century would be the Asian Century, China and India are surely the main power houses for the growth and source of power are coming from our young generations vested with quality education. In that sense, cooperation in education between China and Indian is of strategic importance.

China attaches great importance to our cooperation in education with India. Currently, there are about 4,000 Indian students study in China, and about 1,200 Chinese students in India. To encourage academic exchanges, the Chinese government provides dozens of scholarships in various disciplines to Indian students every year. Economic cooperations often go hand in hand with cultural and educational interactions. With further growing of our economic cooperation, we are expecting steady expansion in educational cooperation between our two countries in the future. Such cooperation will foster much goodwill and better understanding between our peoples, and promote economic cooperation as well.

Confucius, the greatest Chinese philosophy and educationist, once said education is one of the three key pillars to govern a nation and we should teach students in accordance with their aptitude. I think VIT University is the champion in this front. Silver jubilee is an important moment to take stock on the past achievements and also a moment to plan for the future. I believe on the basis of first successful 25 years, VIT University will grow even faster and better, and truly become a cradle for talents in India and the world over!

Again I would like to extend my felicitation to you on this auspicious occasion and wish the university continuous prosperity and greater success ahead!

Thank you!