The Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) held its 86th anniversary open day and a homecoming ceremony for reunion-year alumni at the gymnasium on its Zhongguancun campus on Sept 19.

The gathering brought together over 1,000 returning alumni, faculty members, and administrator representatives.

Addressing the ceremony, BIT President Jiang Lan extended greetings to BIT alumni around the world and thanked all those who have supported the university's development over the years. Since its founding in 1940, he said that the BIT people, generation after generation, have worked tirelessly, and the university has achieved an overall leap in the quality of its education and research in recent years.

He noted that BIT is pressing ahead with its "Global BIT Community" initiative, which aims to build platforms for alumni career development and closer ties among them, and to work with alumni in exploring frontier technologies and sharing the fruits of development.

One of the highlights came from a 2008 graduate, who carried a BIT flag to the summit of Mount Qomolangma, the world's highest peak and known as Mount Everest in the West, as a tribute to his alma mater. He brought the flag back and donated it to BIT at the ceremony.

The ceremony concluded with participants' singing of the university anthem.