XJTLU hosts 20th anniversary alumni gathering in Singapore

In April, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) held a themed alumni gathering in Singapore to mark its 20th anniversary, focusing on education and technology collaboration between China and Singapore. The event, hosted at the National University of Singapore, was part of XJTLU’s “Next Together” anniversary series and brought together more than 70 alumni from a wide range of sectors.

The event was moderated by Hui Zhang, an XJTLU alumnus admitted in 2011 and a postdoctoral researcher at the National University of Singapore. He noted: “Thank you for coming together for this shared moment rooted in our XJTLU experience. The story of XJTLU and our own stories continue to unfold. Wherever we are, we remain connected as one XJTLU community.”

Hui Zhang

Kun Wang, Deputy Director of the Student Admissions and Career Development Office at XJTLU, delivered opening remarks and shared updates on alumni development. According to her, the University graduates more than 4,000 students each year and has, to date, sent over 500 graduates to Singapore, with around 150 alumni currently studying or working there. Alumni backgrounds span disciplines such as computer science, electronic engineering, and business, closely aligning with Singapore’s industrial landscape.

She also highlighted a sharp increase in the number of students pursuing further study in Singapore, rising from 57 to 146 over the past three years, reflecting the students’ sustained interest in Singapore’s education system.

Kun Wang

In his keynote speech, Professor Youmin Xi, Executive President of XJTLU, reflected on the University’s development over the past 20 years: from its founding agreement in 2004 between Xi’an Jiaotong University and the University of Liverpool, to enrolling its first cohort of just over 160 students in 2006, to today’s community of more than 26,000 students across over 120 undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes, and nearly 50,000 graduates worldwide. XJTLU has become one of the largest international educational institutions across the world.

Professor Xi emphasised that XJTLU’s ambition extends beyond building a successful university to exploring new models of education with global impact. In the context of rapid advances in AI, he noted that education is undergoing a fundamental change. “In the future, a large proportion of traditional knowledge-based work may be replaced by AI,” he said. “Education must therefore shift from knowledge transmission to the cultivation of mindset, imagination, and value creation.”

Professor Youmin Xi

Professor Xi also shared three key principles shaping competition in the future world: developing one’s distinctiveness, learning to leverage platforms, and, once sufficiently capable, building one’s own ecosystem. He encouraged alumni to rise above AI rather than compete with it, and to harness it as a partner.

During the sharing session, Jingkang Gui, a 2007 graduate and Head of the XJTLU Singapore Alumni Group, shared his career path from Nanyang Technological University to roles at Singapore Power, Huawei, and Keppel. He highlighted the project management, critical thinking, global perspective, and English proficiency he developed during his time at XJTLU.

Jingkang Gui

Ming Ma, a graduate in financial mathematics who entered XJTLU in 2008 and is now a Director at Standard Chartered Bank, shared insights from her decade-long career in banking. She encouraged younger alumni not to rush into defining themselves in the early stages of their careers, but instead to focus on building transferable capabilities such as execution, analytical thinking, and communication. “What ultimately determines how far you can go,” she noted, “is your ability to understand the bigger picture and connect resources effectively.”

Ming Ma

Xu Chen, a 2011 architecture graduate and now Director of International Channel Growth at Tencent Cloud, delivered a talk titled “From an Open Campus to an Open Mind”. Reflecting on XJTLU’s open campus culture, he remarked: “The open campus doesn’t just give you more pathways. It means you can no longer blame a lack of pathways. It’s a campus culture that removes excuses.”

Xu Chen

During the panel discussion, alumni engaged in in-depth exchanges on topics including core competitiveness in the AI era, career transitions, sustainable development, and the role of humanities and social sciences. Responding to a question on what defines core competitiveness for students, Professor Xi emphasised: “In the age of AI, what matters most is not how much knowledge one possesses, but one’s underlying beliefs – how one understands the world and the kind of life one aspires to lead. With a clear belief system, you can position yourself more accurately and develop true distinctiveness.”

On the application of AI across different industries, alumni shared a range of perspectives. AI has already become deeply embedded in the business architecture of internet and technology companies. At the same time, in highly regulated sectors such as finance, its adoption remains more cautious, typically serving as a supporting tool rather than a decision-maker. Professor Xi concluded: “AI is a tool, but behind every tool lies human judgement, aesthetics, and imagination. What will be truly scarce in the future are those who understand what constitutes a good outcome and how to guide AI to achieve it.”

Following the event, participants recorded a video message to celebrate XJTLU’s 20th anniversary. Alumni joined together to send their wishes from Singapore: “With heartfelt wishes, happy 20th anniversary to XJTLU.”

Text and images courtesy of XJTLU Alumni Affairs Office
Edited by Qiuchen Hu and Patricia Pieterse