Welcome to the 64th edition of CUHK in Focus.
CUHK has embraced numerous opportunities in the past few weeks to strengthen collaboration with mainland partners and showcase our excellence across various areas to the local community and beyond. I was pleased to lead a delegation of senior management to visit Beijing in late April. Our trip began with a joyful reunion dinner hosted by our alumni based in Beijing. Among the 13 CUHK alumni associations in Mainland China, four are based in the capital city. This long-awaited reunion dinner allowed me to connect with our mainland alumni, who have been supporting their alma mater tirelessly throughout the years, and shining in their professional fields to let the impact of CUHK education go beyond borders.
The itinerary of our four-day trip featured a range of strategic programmes, including a visit to the Ministry of Education. There, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Yang Dan, Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges (Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs), along with other representatives from the Ministry, to report on the latest development of CUHK and exchange views on how our strategies can better align with the 2024-2035 master plan on building China into a leading country in education. With this master plan setting out the overall blueprint for our country’s education development in the coming decade, CUHK will give full play to its strengths to provide further impetus for national progress. During our stay in Beijing, we were also delighted to meet with Mr Rex Chang, Director of the Beijing Office of the Hong Kong government to strengthen connections.
We also seized the opportunity to meet with other strategic partners of the University, including the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and Administrative Commission of Zhongguancun Science Park, the China Foreign Affairs University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the China Association for Science and Technology. Over the years, these cherished partners have been staunchly supporting CUHK’s endeavours to contribute to our country’s development through talent cultivation and scientific innovation. I was pleased to engage in constructive dialogues with our long-term partners to explore ongoing collaboration opportunities. We look forward to witnessing more fruitful outcomes from our cooperation in the future.
I was also honoured to meet with the Presidents of Peking University and Tsinghua University. The two prestigious institutions have been collaborating closely with CUHK for decades to collectively contribute to our country through education, research and innovation. Riding on our long-standing partnership, we shall further capitalise on our respective strengths to realise our country’s vision of building a strong education system to support national modernisation and rejuvenation.
THE Awards Asia 2025
The Times Higher Education (THE) Awards Asia acknowledges the most innovative and impressive higher education achievements across the region every year. The CUHK community was thrilled to celebrate the good news of the “Project Plum Grove: A rural revitalisation prototype for sustainable placemaking through collaborative restorations”, led by Professor Thomas Chung Wang-leung at the School of Architecture, being recognised as the Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. This praiseworthy project, funded by Countryside Conservation Office under the Countryside Conservation Funding Scheme, aims at revitalising the abandoned 360-year-old Hakka village of Mui Tsz Lam through co-creative restorations to pioneer a sustainable rural revitalisation prototype for Hong Kong and beyond. It is a shining example showcasing the University’s commitment to addressing major societal challenges through research on cultural heritage conservation and exploring innovative community engagement models. I would like to congratulate the project team on winning this remarkable award, which I believe will drive them to further initiate interdisciplinary action-research to generate greater impact on society.
Acknowledgement of outstanding scholar
I was delighted to attend the inaugural lecture of Professor Brigette Ma from the Faculty of Medicine as the Frances Lee Professor in Precision Oncology. In her lecture, Professor Ma shared how she had originally aspired to be an architect before an unforeseen turn of events led her into the field of medical oncology. I was impressed by her insights into how the work of architects and that of doctors, which seem worlds apart at first sight, revolve around the common goal of seeking the best possible way to cater for human needs. This momentous occasion would not have been possible without the generous support from our donors, Mr Andrew Lee, Chairman of Andrew Lee King Fun & Associates Architects Limited, and his beloved wife, Mrs Frances Lee, who have graciously established this esteemed professorship in the name of Mrs Lee. As a Registered Architect, Mr Lee has provided professional support to the construction projects of various CUHK facilities, including Wu Yee Sun College, and the Yasumoto International Academic Park, among others. As a beautiful coincidence, Mr Lee took an exact opposite path to Professor Ma’s, as he once thought of becoming a doctor when he was small, and even spent his university freshman year in the medical school before deciding to pursue a lifelong career in architecture. The CUHK community is truly thankful to Mr and Mrs Lee for their generosity and commitment to the advancement of CUHK as a civic institution. Their benevolent support will enable the University to remain at the forefront of transformative medical research. May I also take this opportunity to extend my warmest congratulations to Professor Ma on receiving this well-deserved accolade, which will encourage her to unlock endless possibilities to advance global health and embark on a journey to challenge existing paradigms in order to discover innovative solutions for patients worldwide.
I look forward to sharing more stories with you in our next edition.
Best wishes,
Professor Dennis Lo Yuk-ming
Vice-Chancellor and President
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
