The year 2023 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the “Double-Task” Political Counselor System in Tsinghua University. At noon on December 14, the Graduation Counselor Symposium of the Department of Earth System Science (DESS) was held in S818, Mong Man Wai Technology Building. Invited to address this event was Huang Guorui, DESS graduate counselor representative of Class 2020, and Li Haoran, a Class 2022 graduate. Geng Rui, Party Committee Secretary of the DESS, Yu Le, Head of the Graduate Student Work Group and Chen Yawei, Deputy Head of the Comprehensive Work Office, attended the symposium, and Lu Hui, Deputy Party Committee Secretary, presided over the symposium. The DESS Moral Education Assistant and student backbone representatives also attended the meeting.

At the outset of the symposium, Lu Hui, on behalf of the DESS, extended a warm welcome to two graduate counselors, who returned to the university for the meeting. Lu stressed that this year marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the “Double-Task” Political Counselor System in Tsinghua University, which has been playing a key role in the ideological and political education of students. He hoped that counselors, past and now, could strengthen communication, promote the DESS counselor team building, and pool their work experience and understanding. Next, Zhou Yufeng, Deputy Head of the Graduate Student Work Group, reported the overall situation of the DESS research group, introduced the working approach of "full coverage" with “unique characteristics” in the student work of the Department, and summarized the achievements of the DESS student activities over the past year. The DESS Moral Education Assistant and student backbone representatives also briefly introduced themselves and reported their work.

In the sharing session, Huang Guorui reviewed his social work experience since his enrollment in 2014. He talked about the influence of counselor's work on himself and summarized his work as characterized by prudence, perseverance, confidence and diligence. He believed that the exercise and experience acquired in the position of counselor would have a very beneficial impact on his future work. This job has enhanced his sense of responsibility, improved his working skills in many aspects, and enabled him to face future work challenges with more confidence.

Li Haoran noted that being a counselor offers a platform for learning and communication, not only providing an opportunity to express one's own ideas and actively put them into practice, but also pooling abundant resources for one's all-round development. The position as a counselor can broaden a student’s horizons in the professional field and hone his ability in social work.

In the exchange and discussion session, the participants held in-depth discussions on the current situation of graduate student, proposing that we should take note of and ease up graduating students’ pressure. Yu Le affirmed the current situation of student activities, noting that the DESS student work has always been carried out in line with students’ expertise characteristics and oriented to address students' needs, while constantly exploring and innovating on the basis of tradition. Addressing the problem of how to balance scientific research with social work and the choice of future career, Huang Guorui and Li Haoran encouraged students to try and explore in advance on the position as counselor so as to be better prepared for future development.

In his concluding remarks, Geng Rui noted that being a counselor was a challenging but rewarding experience, benefiting one’s whole life. She expressed her gratitude to past graduate counselors of the DESS and affirmed the current students of the DESS, pointing out that a counselor should plan his/her career development well and make good use of the counselor platform and resource advantages, while carrying forward the education tradition of “cultivating students with all-round development, both socialist-minded and professionally competent, serve the DESS faculty and students well, and tell the DESS story well.

On the afternoon of the same day, the Commemorative Conference of the 70th Anniversary of the Establishment of Tsinghua University's “Double-Task” Political Counselor System was held in the New Tsinghua Auditorium. Professor Lu Hui of the DESS won the Lin Feng Counselor Award (as a teacher) and Xu Yawei won the "December 9" Guo Mingqiu Counselor Award.

Written by: Zhou Yufeng

Edited by: Wang Jiayin

Reviewed by Lu Hui, Yu Le, Chen Yawei, and Geng Rui