With a refreshing autumn breeze and the start of a new season, on September 3 the Institute of Engineering Technology (hereinafter referred to as "IET") welcomed 99 new students of the 2026 cohort from all over the country. Arriving with passion and dreams, they joined the IET family, embarking on a brand-new path of research and study and bringing fresh vigor and vitality to the Institute.

To ensure that the orientation work was safe, orderly and efficient, IET attached great importance to it and made coordinated arrangements in advance. On the day of registration, reception stations were set up respectively at the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB) Changping Innovation Park, Shahe Innovation Park and Guanzhuang Campus, with carefully prepared welcome gift packs and a sufficient number of volunteers providing warm guidance and full-process assistance, so as to ensure that the new students and their parents completed the registration process smoothly and safely.

During the registration period, leaders of the university and the Institute visited the various orientation venues to meet and encourage the new students and the volunteers.

On the morning of September 4, the IET 2026 Orientation Meeting was held in Meeting Room 201 of the South Building of Changping Innovation Park. He Anrui, Party Committee Secretary of IET; Zhang Yongjun, Dean of IET; Guo Qiang, General Manager of Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., USTB; Yang Quan, Director of the National Engineering Research Center of Flat Rolling Equipment; Shao Jian and Xiao Xiong, Deputy Deans of IET; Pan Yu, a faculty representative; and all the 2026 graduate students attended the meeting, which was chaired by Peng Xiaoyan, an organizational commissioner at the division-chief level and Deputy Party Committee Secretary of IET.

At the beginning of the meeting, He Anrui delivered a welcome speech. On behalf of IET, he extended a warm welcome to the 2026 cohort. He encouraged the students to keep the country's most fundamental interests in mind and to align their personal aspirations with the needs of the nation; to uphold the pursuit of truth and build a solid research foundation on rigor and integrity; and to cultivate a spirit of cooperation, growing within the collective into warm-hearted and responsible members of IET. He wished the students success in their studies and gains in their endeavors, and expressed the hope that they would write their own youthful answers in the practice of serving the country and the development of the industry.

Zhang Yongjun introduced IET from the aspects of its history, organizational structure, institutional mechanisms and achievement transformation. He expected the students to strengthen their awareness of active learning and quickly adapt to the pace of research and study at the graduate level; to focus on developing research capabilities and to hone their skills and increase their competence in real research topics and real projects; and he encouraged everyone to aim high while keeping their feet on the ground, to integrate personal growth into the development of IET and the strategic needs of the country, and to write a chapter of youth on the journey of serving the country through research.

Then LüBozhou, a student majoring in Control Engineering, spoke as the representative of the new students. He called on all the students to embrace the spirit of "seeking truth and innovation" and the conviction of "serving the country through steel," to pursue excellence and strive to be the first, to become problem solvers and technology innovators, to write their papers on the engineering front line and apply their results in industry, and to contribute their youthful strength to the high-quality development of IET.

Pan Yu spoke as the representative of the supervisors. He put forward three expectations for the new students: first, to attach importance to the transformation of their personal role and to temper the professional competence needed to overcome difficulties; second, to cultivate the ability to solve problems and to proactively focus on cutting-edge research challenges; and third, to cherish their graduate studies and to cultivate a scholarly character of tireless dedication. He hoped the students would devote themselves to study and concentrate their efforts, achieving growth in both academic performance and ability on their journey of pursuing their dreams.

Shao Jian explained IET's graduate training work in terms of faculty strength, professional directions, training features and institutional guarantees. He noted that IET has an excellent group of doctoral and master's supervisors, and that the research topics and research contents chosen by the students are closely aligned with major national and industrial research and engineering projects, enabling them to temper their engineering practice capabilities in real research projects. He hoped the students would cherish the training resources, take the initiative to go to the engineering front line, and increase their competence and hone their skills by solving practical problems.

Finally, Xiao Xiong gave a keynote report titled "Graduate Studies and Responsibility in the AI Era: Serving the Country through Scholarship, Seeking Truth and Innovating." He shared his views from four aspects: "bearing the country in mind and bravely shouldering the responsibility of the times," "facing reality and exploring the questions of origin," "getting to the bottom of things and consolidating the foundation of research," and "unifying knowledge and action to serve the country through solid scholarship." He encouraged the students to closely combine their personal academic pursuits with the strategic needs of the nation and to contribute youthful research strength to national self-reliance and self-strengthening in science and technology and to the high-quality development of the industry.

After the meeting, IET also organized a grade meeting for the new students, the first lesson on safety, and training on school rules and discipline.

A new chapter opens as we journey toward the light! The arrival of the 2026 cohort has gathered a vibrant torrent of youthful energy for the innovative development of IET. May all the new students, in the years of study ahead, live up to the times, forge ahead with courage, devote themselves to research and dedicate themselves to the country, temper the iron backbone of devotion to the nation, and grow into high-quality talent who listen to and follow the Party, have ideals and abilities!