October 17, 2014
Nanjing University of Science and Technology Presents Honorary Professorship
Nanjing University of Science and Technology (NUST), China, presented an honorary professorship to SGI President and Soka University founder Daisaku Ikeda for his longstanding contributions to world peace and Sino-Japanese friendship at a ceremony held by proxy on its campus on October 17, 2014. President Wang Xiaofeng entrusted the certificate of appointment to Soka University Vice President Hirotomo Teranishi who had traveled from Japan to receive the award on behalf of Mr. Ikeda. NUST also established a research center committed to studying Mr. Ikeda's ideals on this day and a plaque with its name was introduced following the conferral ceremony.
NUST was founded in 1953 in Harbin city through an effort led by modern China's first chairperson Mao Zedong to establish a military engineering college. It moved its campus two years later to Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province and one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. Since then, NUST has developed into one of the key national universities under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. With a student enrollment of 30,000 and cooperative relationships with nearly 100 universities and research institutions in countries worldwide, NUST strives to be an influential research-oriented institution with emphasis on science and engineering.
In a citation, President Wang said he considers Mr. Ikeda an "old friend" of the Chinese people and that it was a great honor to have him accept the award. President Wang expressed his desire to deepen exchange between the two universities, especially on the student level, and shared his hope for the friendship to endure. He concurred with Mr. Ikeda who once stated, "It is [in] moving forward each day--even if just one more step today than yesterday, one more step tomorrow than today--breaking out of our old mold and building a new self [that] we find the fulfillment of youth and the joy of life."
In an acceptance message, Mr. Ikeda expressed his deep appreciation for the honor and said he accepted it on behalf of all students, alumni, and faculty of the Soka education system in hopes of entrusting the invaluable friendship between China and Japan to future generations. He remarked that the passion and strength of youth will create a new world civilization, pave the way to victory for humanity's future and spread peace and harmonious coexistence on earth. He then affirmed that through the development and enrichment of education together with educational exchanges, we must inspire young people to manifest indomitable courage to enable them to polish their wisdom to prevail over obstacles and surmount all differences toward building genuine friendships.
Commemorative photo-taking following the ceremony
[Adapted from an article in the October 24, 2014, issue of the Seikyo Shimbun, Soka Gakkai, Japan]
