Yang Fujia, member of the China Central Institute for Culture and History, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, president of University of Nottingham Ningbo China, passed away at age of 86

17 July 2022


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Yang Fujia, a renowned nuclear physicist, educator, member of the China Central Institute for Culture and History, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, former president of Fudan University, president of University of Nottingham Ningbo China, passed away in Shanghai on 17 July 2022 due to illness at the age of eighty-six.

Academician Yang Fujia, who’s ancestral home is in Zhenhai, Ningbo in Zhejiang province, was born in Shanghai in 1936. After graduating from the Department of Physics of Fudan University in 1958, he remained at the university to become a teacher. From 1963 to 1965, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark; after returning home to China, he established a first-class, state-of-the-art laboratory - “Accelerator-based Atomic and Nuclear Physics Laboratory”, and created the research field of ion beam analysis in China. In 1993, Yang Fujia became the president of Fudan University. Then, in 2001, two years after stepping down as president of Fudan University, he took on the role of president of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, becoming the first ever Chinese national to serve as the president of a famous British university. In 2004, Yang Fujia promoted the establishment of China's first sino-foreign university - University of Nottingham Ningbo China, and served as its first president.

President Yang Fujia has served as the president of well-known universities at home and abroad for many years, and had profound insights into the development of higher education and talent cultivation in China. He advocated the idea of liberal arts education, speaking and writing actively on various occasions to promote the reform of higher education in China. He once said: “I was fortunate enough to be the president of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom for 12 years. I visited countless universities around the world and gradually understood what liberal arts education is. Naturally, I am also thinking about whether this excellent teaching system can be migrated to China.”

To practice the philosophy of liberal arts education, President Yang Fujia selflessly promoted the establishment of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, which opened a new model of sino-foreign cooperative education and injected a much desired vitality into Chinese universities. In the management of the university, President Yang Fujia adhered to three principles: first, focus on teaching quality; second, insist that education should "ignite the flame in students' heart"; third, emphasize "human beings first, professionals second."

During the tenure of Yang Fujia's presidency, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China has steadily moved forward on the premise of ensuring high-level teaching quality, and has cultivated abundant outstanding students who have shone across the globe over the years. President Yang Fujia said a number of times that many graduate students mentioned in their letters to him that “the university has changed our lives”.

On the experimental field of liberal arts education at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, President Yang Fujia emphasized the need to ignite the “flame” in the heart of students. As a “spark-planter” of advanced educational concepts, President Yang Fujia has spent his entire life exploring and practicing his educational philosophy with practical actions. It was his wish to provide high-quality international education in China and cultivate high-end innovative and international talent for the country in the future.