On July 13th, Henan University (HENU) founded the Sanya Institute and signed a cooperation agreement with Yazhou Bay Sci-Tech City (YZBSTC) Administration in southern coastal Sanya, Hainan Province. Leaders, namely, DIAO Yuhua, Vice Director of the Education Department of Henan Province, LU Keping, Secretary of Henan University’s Party Committee, and ZHOU Jun, Vice Mayor of Sanya Municipal People’s Government, attended the ceremony and delivered speeches. Meanwhile, members of the Education Department and the Department of Science and Technology of Hainan Province, the YZBSTC Administration, the Yazhou Bay Seed Laboratory, the Sanya Oceanographic Institution of Ocean University of China, the Haima Group, the Kaifeng Municipal People’s Government, the Kaifeng Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, and related departments of HENU also took part in the ceremony.

At the beginning of the ceremony, XU Shaokang, Vice President of HENU, read out the approval document of Sanya Municipal Government on agreeing to establish Sanya Institute and the announcement of HENU’s Party Committee on founding the institute and personnel appointments.

Then on behalf of the two sides respectively, WANG Xuelu, Vice President of HENU, and LIN Hai, Executive Deputy Director General of YZBSTC Administration, signed the agreement. Jointly unveiled by LU Keping, DIAO Yuhua and ZHOU Jun, Sanya Institute wasofficially inaugurated.

In his keynote speech, LU Keping stated the university’s intentions of concentrating disciplinary and geographical advantages, taking into consideration actual demands in agriculture of Hainan and Henan provinces, and then serving the needs of national strategies at the same time, in order to explore a new way to upgrade industries of characteristic agriculture, biological breeding and ecological health care and establish a joint plant breeding innovation mechanism between two provinces. “By doing so, HENU will further contribute to the development of Hainan Free Trade Port, to rural revitalization and agricultural modernization at the national level, ” he added.

CHEN Fan, Executive Director of Yazhou Bay Seed Laboratory, said that as a fresh force, the newborn Sanya Institute will be a booster for the development of YZBSTC and provide solutions with Chinese characteristics for the food security of the community with a shared future for mankind.

DIAO Yuhua said that the Institute is not only a milestone in the development of HENU, but also a significant action for the diversified development of higher education in Henan Province, serving the needs of national development. In addition, he stressed that the Education Department of Henan Province will continue to support the construction and development of the Institute.

To all the universities and institutes in Sanya, ZHOU Jun declared that development-oriented policies and services are always available. Moreover, for constructing a national agricultural science and education zone in Sanya and contributing more to building Hainan a high-quality free trade port and an island characterized by innovation in international education, he hoped that research teams from the Institute could start working in YZBSTC soon.

At the end of the ceremony, Haima Group and Hainan Alumni Association of HENU respectively donated business cars and calligraphy works to the Institute, congratulating on its founding.

It is reported that on Dec. 13, 2020 HENU, Education Department of Hainan Province and Sanya Municipal People’s Government signed a strategic cooperation agreement to co-build Sanya Institute. And on Apr. 8, 2021, the Institution registered as a separate legal person. At present, in terms of self-construction, the Institute has developed construction and development plans and the 14th Five-Year Plan, selected the first batch of scientific research personnel. Meanwhile, the Plant Biotechnology Laboratory has been approved for construction. In terms of talent training, the Institute will recruit postgraduatestudents with customized programs. Moreover, it has become a member of the sharing mode for research and student development cultivation in YZBSTC and has signed an agreement on course sharing programs and Mutual Recognition of Credits with China Agricultural University, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Nanjing Agricultural University.