Gao Song has been appointed president of Peking University and deputy secretary of the university's Committee of the Communist Party of China, replacing Gong Qihuang, who no longer holds these positions.

The appointment was approved recently by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and announced at a faculty and staff meeting held at the university on Saturday.

Zhang Guangjun, vice-minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, announced the decision at the meeting. Wang Jiayi, vice-minister of education, and Li Chenglin, head of the Organization Department of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, also addressed the meeting. He Guangcai, Party secretary of Peking University, presided over the meeting.

Gao, born in February 1964, holds an in-service doctorate in science. He is a professor and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

He has previously served as vice-president and executive vice-president of Peking University, president of South China University of Technology, president of Sun Yat-sen University, and concurrently vice-chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology.