Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the University of National Defense of the Chinese People's Liberation Army on Friday as the Beijing institution marked its 80th anniversary.

Hu, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, met with some retired and incumbent senior teachers and leaders of the school. He also paid a visit to an exhibition hall displaying the school's history.

Training a large group of military talents is fundamental and vital for building, ruling and strengthening our armed forces, Hu said.

The president urged the top military university to study the essence of the 17th CPC National Congress, to display tradition and to promote the "sound and rapid" development of military academies.

He also asked the university to reform and innovate, so as to improve the teaching and military personnel training quality.

Through 80 years of development, the training brigade of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army set up in 1927 by the late Chairman Mao Zedong, has now become the prestigious University of National Defense, the country's and the army's important military education base.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2007)