The departure ceremony was held recently for the fourth group (2024-2025) of “China Youth Volunteer Overseas Service Program – Serving UN Agencies” at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU). Zhou Xiabing, an undergraduate student of 2027 from SWJTU-Leeds Joint School, was successfully admitted to the group after a series of selections. He is also the first youth volunteer selected by the University to serve as an international volunteer at United Nations Agencies.

Zhou will work as a publicity assistant at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Talking about his experience about the training, he said emotionally, “the world is changing, the time is changing and the history is changing.  To build a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind and achieve sustainable development, the youth of the new era should take their responsibilities to accomplish their missions”. He quoted from San Guo Zhi (The History of Three Kingdoms), “The filmy cloud could complement the magnificence of the mountains and the seas, and the little candlelight could replenish the brightness of the sun and the moon”, to mark his original intention. He indicated that he would complete tasks with a high sense of responsibility, and will encourage more youth volunteers to  engage in this program after he has accomplished his mission.

Participants in this departure ceremony included officials from the Youth Volunteer Action Guidance Centre of the Youth League Central Committee, the Secretariat of the China Youth Volunteer Association, the China Office of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV), the Ministry of Commerce of the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchange (CICETE), the Department of International Cooperation of the National Agency for International Development Cooperation, the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Youth League and Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), 55 United Nations program volunteers from 23 participating universities such as Tsinghua University, and officers from their respective league committees.