On September 17, the foundation ceremony for the first class in Intelligent Medical Engineering (IME) was held at Siyuan Temple. There are a total of 15 students in the first IME class, who will be supervised by three tutors from the School of Medicine, Dr. Sun Wei, Dr. Liu Chang and Dr. Piao Yongjun.

Prof. Gao Haiyan, Secretary of the School of Medicine, expressed the warmest welcome to the students. He stated that the School will provide the most outstanding teaching resources and practice opportunities for IME students. He also required them to cherish opportunities to study in this class. Prof. Xiang Rong, Dean of the School of Medicine, pointed out that the IME students must be innovating, actively-learning and team-working as they are pioneers in a brand new subject and industry.

One of the IME students, Mu Zhen'ao said that he chose the IME not only for its novelty and advantages in the job market, but also for its prospects in promoting medical conditions in less developed regions in China. He wishes that he would be able to help people in remote and less developed regions using his knowledge and skills.

The IME program (Four Years), which was launched by the School of Medicine, together with the the School of Artificial Intelligence, School of Mathematical Sciences, School of Physics, College of Chemistry and College of Life Sciences in Nankai University, is one of the first IME undergraduate programs in China approved by the Ministry of Education. Students will be conferred Bachelor's Degrees in Engineering upon graduation. Students in the first IME class were selected from the 2018 Nankai University freshmen.