On the afternoon of April 14, CUEB convened a meeting to mobilize the education campaign themed “Studying and Implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era (the Thought)”. Han Xianzhou, Party Secretary of CUEB and leader of the education campaign group, assigned tasks to group members. Yang Gongding, leader of the No. 17 Circuit Steering Group of Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) delivered a speech. Xu Fang, Deputy Party Secretary of CUEB, presided over the meeting.

Han stressed that the education campaign not only makes for implementing strategic plans of the 20th CPC National Congress, but also is a great move to press ahead with the great new project of Party building. Under the requirement of the decision of the CPC Central Committee and the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, CUEB Party Committee will uphold principle of “striving for greater ability and excellence through diligence and practice” in theme education according to the university’s conditions. On top of that, the vast number of Party-members and officials, or faculty and students at CUEB are required to deeply understand the Thought and put theory into practice to forge CUEB into Beijing Municipal high-level research university and first-class university of finance and economics. Ultimately, the goal is to build CUEB into the pacesetter among universities run by the Beijing municipality while implementing the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education and serving the capital in the new era.

To fulfill goals and tasks, Han put forward three requirements on the theme education.

First, we should take a high political stance to fully understand the significance of the theme education. The theme education aims to meet requirements for unifying the Party’s thoughts and actions and maintaining the strong cohesion and combat effectiveness of the CPC; advancing the whole Party members to shoulder responsibilities and take practical actions to open up new prospects for the cause; and exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance and using our own transformation to steer social transformation. It is also a vivid reflection of implementing the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, strengthening the Party’s overall leadership over the university’s work and developing first-class education that meets the people’s expectations. The development of Beijing municipal colleges and universities closely links missions of the Party and country and the development of the capital in the new era, meaning that Party organizations at all levels and Party-member officials at CUEB should fully study and follow President Xi Jinping’s important observations on education and Beijing’s work in a determined and conscious manner. That is how we can facilitate the Thought to take root in CUEB and bear fruits. 

Second, we should implement requirements to ensure that the theme education is both high-standard and high-quality. For that to happen, it is important for us to:

·clarify the overall requirements: learn the Thought, strengthen Party consciousness, emphasize practice, and make new achievements;

·apply what we have learned in practice and act on our beliefs; 

·equip ourselves with theories and pursue a normalized mechanism based on five study models (study guided by leaders; self-study; co-study within Party branches; stratified study; and practice-oriented study).

Meanwhile, we need to grasp the original meaning of the Thought and form a well-round understanding so that we can thoroughly understand the scientific system, theoretical essence, and practical requirements of this thought. Also, we need to play the role of “Major projects” to conduct in-depth research and identify our priorities from the perspective of Party building, “all-faculty, whole-process, and all-round” education system, personnel cultivation, sci-tech innovation, team-building and other aspects. CUEB leadership team and relevant leaders should engage in special research to solve problems with innovative theories of the Party. To advance high-quality development, it is vital to be target-oriented and put theory into practice while solving difficulties. We should also focus on three top priorities: implement key tasks, develop with CUEB characteristics, and follow the mass line with teachers and students as the mainstay. Importantly, we should work continuously to review and improve our work by integrating the theme education with the following four aspects:

·inspection in exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance (Party building);

·special supervision over annual key tasks of CUEB;

·annual assessment of leaders, cadres at the level of director, and work of secretaries of Party organizations at secondary level on Party building at the primary level;

·problems raised by Discipline Inspection Commission and the Auditing Office. 

We should rectify problems immediately and establish regulations in the long run to strengthen political stance. We should also timely summarize successful practice in the theme education and transform it into institutions. With these efforts, we will establish a long-term mechanism for consolidating the achievements of the theme education and improve the institutional mechanism for learning and implementing the Party’s innovative theories, thus ensuring that the theme education is conducted regularly and effectively.

Third, we should strengthen the organization and leadership to ensure the theme education a success. Given the pressing time, hard tasks and high-standard requirements, Party organizations at all levels in CUEB should act in an earnest attitude and strive to deliver a complete theme education. Moreover, we should also take full responsibilities, strengthen supervision and inspection, make overall arrangements and build learning atmosphere to improve our conduct in our work, thus forging inner strength, getting wiser, improving conduct, and putting knowledge into practice. 

On behalf of the Party Committee of CUEB, Han promised that Party organizations at all levels and all Communist Party members shall organize the theme education with strong faith and responsibilities. Guided by the Thought, CUEB shall refine its first-class higher education to meet the people’ s expectations and serve the capital development.

Yang introduced the work of Circuit Steering Group and put forward four suggestions in theme education:

First, we must be highly aware of the importance of theme education. Our actions and minds must be aligned with the central spirit and the demands of Municipal Party Committee. We need to earnestly implement the work related to theme education through detailed arrangements, thus making substantial headway in this sector. Second, we must bear in mind the goal of theme education. Party members and cadres should learn the principles of leadership, thought and work in the Thought so that they can enhance their political awareness and duty-performance abilities. This will help us solve the new problems in reform and development and protect CUEB from major risks. Third, we must take concerted actions to promote theme education. As we pursue the high-quality work and achievements in theme education, we need to enhance theoretical learning, conduct in-depth study, stick to inspection and emphasize the institutional construction. Forth, we must intensify our guidance on theme education. We need to fulfill our main responsibilities, underscore the coordinated work, accumulate more experience and pursue a serious work style, with a view to record substantial progress through detailed arrangements.

Xu emphasized that Party organizations at secondary level should consistently act on the requirements of the superiors and unify the thoughts and actions to the guiding principles of the important speech delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping and decisions and deployment of the Party Central Committee and Municipal Party Committee, thus refining the theme education. Aiming to advance the high-quality development of CUEB, we must adopt targeted measures to change our work style. Furthermore, we should also be the believer and practitioner of the Thought, thus building CUEB into a municipal high-level research university in Beijing and China’s first-class and worldly-renowned university of finance and economics.

The campaign was guided by Ni Saili, Deputy Leader of the No.17 Circuit Steering Group of Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, Feng Jianchun, Liaison of the Group, and the Group members Wang Chaochen, Wu Shuang and Men Wei. Other participants were as follows: all CUEB leaders, members of Party Standing Committee, former CUEB leaders, all middle-level cadres, secretaries of the Teachers’ Party branch, and representatives of Beijing Municipal Congress of the CPC, Labor Union and Teacher Representative Congress, democratic parties in grassroots, non-party members, People’s Congress, CPPCC members and teacher and student party members.