At a two-day conference on ideological education for college students, President Hu Jintao stressed the need to cultivate talents with noble minds, sound ethics and abundant knowledge for the country's modernization drive.

The conference, which was held on January 17 and 18, was attended by Premier Wen Jiabao; Vice President Zeng Qinghong; Politburo Standing Committee members Wu Guanzheng, Luo Gan and Li Changchun; and officials from central government departments and 31 colleges.

"Education should make it possible for college students to keep in step with changing times, share the destiny of the motherland and work hard in unity with all the people," Hu said on Tuesday. "This is of far-reaching and strategic significance for ensuring the realization of an all-round well-off society in China, realizing the great target of modernization and achieving the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

He said that China should raise students' ideological and political awareness as well as improving their knowledge of various sciences. "Only with this job done well can we keep the society stable and the great causes of the people passed down to future generations."

He urged Communist Party committees and governments at all levels to understand fully the importance and urgency of the work under the new circumstances.

The president said that ideals, patriotism, ethics and ability should be all stressed to develop college students in a comprehensive way.

He stated that colleges should take the cultivation of builders and inheritors of socialism as their fundamental goal.

"It's one of the key jobs for the Communist Party to improve its governance capability and consolidate its leadership status," the president said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2005)