BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping has urged more efforts to achieve marine sci-tech breakthroughs in a reply letter to faculty and students of the Ocean University of China.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, congratulated the university's faculty, students and alumni on its centenary.

In the letter, Xi asked the university to take the centenary as a new starting point, step up efforts to achieve original and pioneering sci-tech breakthroughs, and nurture more outstanding talent to contribute to building China into a leading country in education and a strong maritime country.

The Ocean University of China was founded in 1924 as the Private Qingdao University and adopted its current name in 2002.