President Xi congratulates opening of Schwarzman College

President Xi Jinping meets teachers at his alma mater, Bayi School in Beijing, on Friday ahead of Teacher's Day on Saturday. He took the opportunity to extend his appreciation to the country's educators for their hard work. Yao Dawei / Xinhua

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a letter on Saturday congratulating the opening of the China-US Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University.

Education is an important force that pushes forward human civilization. Nowadays the young people in all countries should establish a world vision and raise awareness of cooperation through education, Xi said in the letter.

The China-US exchanges in education have played a positive role in promoting understanding and friendship among the people as well as improving the relations between the two nations, he said, adding the two countries should deepen cooperation in this field.

He hoped that the Schwarzman College can be built into an international platform for cultivating the world's excellent talents, providing study opportunities for the youth of all countries and helping them enhance understanding and exchanges.

US President Barack Obama also sent a congratulation letter for the opening ceremony.

The Schwarzman Scholars program of Tsinghua University is a one-year post graduate program co-founded by the university and Stephen Schwarzman. It aims to cultivate students with international vision, overall quality, leadership and knowledge of China.

The first group of 110 scholars come from 70 colleges in 31 countries.