荐读 | 校长柯炳生在特多西印度大学毕业典礼上的演讲

　　 编者按： 应特立尼达和多巴哥共和国西印度大学的邀请，校长柯炳生于10月19日-22日访问该校，并在该校的毕业典礼上发表了题为《With Vision, Action and Collaboration, We Strive Forward Together》的英文演讲，从眼界、笃行、协作三个方面与青年人分享成长经验。以下为演讲全文：　　 

With Vision, Action and Collaboration,

We Strive ForwardTogether

Speech at the Graduation Ceremony of UWI, St. Augustine Campus

20 October 2016

Respected Chancellor Sir George Alleyne,Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary BecklesProVice Chancellor and Principal Copeland, and other Pro-Vice Chancellors,Graduating students,Ladies and Gentlemen:

　　I would like to express warm congratulations to all graduating students. You have achieved an important milestone in your life. Well done.

　　I am very pleased to be here and extremely honored to be awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of West Indies.My sincere gratitudeto the Council of the UWI for this great distinction. I take this not just as anhonor for me personally, but also as a reflection of the successful collaboration between China Agricultural University (CAU) and UWI St. Augustine.

　　My initial connection with the UWI St. Augustine started three years ago Chinese President XI Jinping was visiting Trinidad and Tobago.e receiveda phone call from Madam XU Lin, a senior official who was travelling with President XI’s delegation. She asked if CAU was interested in co-sponsoring a Confucius Institute with UWI St. Augustine. After a short discussion, we happily accepted herproposal. Four days later, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal Sankat led a delegation to visit CAU in Beijing. And just four months later, on October 23, 2013, the CI at the St. Augustinewas officially launched. Thanks to the great efforts of the CI staff from bothuniversities, the program exchanges hasrapidly developed during the last three years.

　　Asthe CI, we extensively discussedopportunities for academic exchange collaboration between the two universities. Then Principal Professor Sankat and I quickly adopted a plan to establish an Agricultural Innovation Parkat the St. Augustine. In April, a team of five CAU professors visited St. Augustinetogether with stafffromthe St. Augustine draftedthe plan and design during thevisit. Subsequently, we succeeded in gettingsome initial funding from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. With th, the pilot phase of the Abegan, construction was completed, and the facility officially openedin October last year. As many of you know, the project results have been very promising. This has enabled us to get additional funding from Chinese Ministry of Agriculture to expand the scope of the pilot operation. At the same time, exchanges of students have also taken place.

　　Thequick movementand rapid progress madein just three years hasdemonstratednot only the potentials, but alsothe consensus, enthusiasm and efficiency in the process of collaboration between our two universities.

　　Dear graduates, before I came here, it was suggested by your university that Ishare a few "words of wisdom" with you on this occasion. Even though I frequently advise my students at CAU, I was not quite sure what useful knowledgeI could offerto you. However, when I think about the progressive development of the beneficial relationship between our two universities in the past three years, three words came to mind: vision, action and collaboration.

　　VISIONis the ideal and the direction to the future; it is where you intend to go or what you want to be. This is of prime importance for an institution as well as for an individual’s life. As college graduates, you are the luckiest and mostprivilegedgroup among your generation. You are faced with many choices. My feeling is that the best choice for you is the onethat combines : go where you are wanted the most, do the things you like best.

　　In this context, I want to congratulate you for having chosen the right study fields, namely the agriculture and food science. is the most fundamental one for human beings, but also the only one enjoying an ever-expanding market.People in the world need more,safer and healthier foodevery year and every day. are needednd you apparently like working in this field as you all successfully completed the very rigorous program and got your degree.

　　I can also assure you this from our own experience in China and at CAU. In the last ten years, eliminatinginflationfactor, the production value of agriculture in China has increased by 130%and sales in the food industryhaverisen by 380%.The CAU graduates on the job marketare high demand. Of the 3000 graduates with a bachelor degree from CAU each year, 40% continue to study in a postgraduate program in China, and 20% go on to study in world-class universities abroad. The remaining 40% go directly to the job market and are fully employed within 6 months of graduation. During the last ten years, research funding at CAU has increased by 300% and reached 180 million US Dollars in2015. We have achieved a similar growth in research paper publication. As a result, CAU hasrapidly increased in the world university rankings. ranking publishedby the US News and World Reporthasplaced CAU within the top four universities for agriculture, alongsideCornell, UC Davis and Wageningen University.My CAU colleagues and I believethere is alarge potentialforgrowth in theagricultural and food sector, especially intropical and horticultural productsin Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean countries. This judgment is based both on the very favorable natural conditions and the market demand. Nowis your opportunity to usethishuge potentialserve people. This is thekey reason that we developed the project as a showcase for promoting the local agricultural development.

　　The next word is ACTION. Vision without action is just illusion. To translate vision into reality, you need effective action and firm steps forward. You need courage to face challenges and to find the right instruments to overcome difficulties. The road to success is never smooth.You all know this.

　　The third word is COLLABORATION. Nowadays, the importance of collaboration is almost self-evident. ignificant success cannot be achieved without collective effort. This will be true for your future career as it has been true for the development of the close relationship betweenour two universities.

　　Now, I want to take this opportunity to express my genuineappreciation to all partners involved in this coation. My sincere thanks go to the former Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal Clement Sankat, for his wisdom and dedication to promoting the collaborationbetween our two universities. His devotion, commitment and contribution have been reflected in the fact that he has been invited to be a Senior Consultant of the Confucius Institute Headquarters in July this year. My special thanks go to the Chinese Embassy, particularly the former Ambassador Huang Xingyuan and current Ambassador Song Yumin, for their strong support of the CI and the collaboration of the two universities. I also want to thank my CAU colleagues, including the Cstaff and the professors participating in the APark project, for their enthusiasm, devotion and effective work.

　　I want to express my special thanks to ProVice Chancellor and Principal at the St. Augustine Campus, Professor Copeland.Thank you for your support I sincerely believe that under your strong leadership, supported by thecontributions ofthe faculty and staffof our two universities, our friendly relationship and collaboration will continue to grow and achieve more in the years to come. not only for the good of the faculty and students, but also for theof the peoplein our two countries.

　　Finally, I want to thank you again for awarding me this great honor, and for your generous hospitality.My wife and Iare to share this most memorable moment with you. Thank you all.