Welcome to the 67th edition of CUHK in Focus.
The CUHK community takes pride in its strong spirit of camaraderie, and I am truly grateful to all who help nurture the bonds within University. The Chinese University Women’s Organisation (CUWO), founded by Mrs Gwen Kao, the wife of CUHK’s former Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Sir Charles Kao, has been dedicated to fostering a close-knit campus community. Over the years, thanks to the commitment of Mrs Kao and other devoted volunteers, CUWO has been warmly supporting CUHK members through a wide range of initiatives, including talks, social support services for staff and their families, and fund-raising projects on and off campus.
I am particularly delighted to see CUWO carry forward our time-honoured partnership with the launch of the Gwen Kao CUWO Scholarship earlier this month. This meaningful initiative recognises outstanding female students at CUHK who demonstrate a deep sense of commitment to community service. In its inaugural year, the Scholarship acknowledges students from CW Chu College, and will be progressively extended to all the nine Colleges, broadening its impact across the entire campus. It gave me great pleasure to attend the official launch ceremony of the Scholarship, which took the form of a “Blooming Summer Party” where guests were immersed in the festivity of the vibrant season, enchanting music performed by CUWO volunteers, as well as the company of old and new friends. Once again, I would like to thank Mrs Kao for her heartfelt benevolence, and everyone at CUWO for making this impactful scholarship a reality, empowering CUHK students to contribute to social good.
Connecting with mainland partners
I had the opportunity to meet with approximately 30 media representatives coming from Shenzhen and other parts of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as they visited CUHK in mid-June to learn about our latest developments. Their staunch support over the years has enabled us to extend CUHK’s reach across borders, sharing the fruits of our education, research and innovation endeavours with a wider audience. The one-day tour this time featured not only presentations by the senior management team on our academic offerings and strategic development plan, but also visits to the Lo Kwee Seong Pavilion of the CUHK Art Museum, the Multi-Scale Medical Robotics Centre, and Cornerstone Robotics Limited, a CUHK-bred unicorn. These engagements demonstrated to our media friends how our equal emphasis on both the humanities and the sciences has driven us towards our mission of combining tradition with modernity, and bringing together China and the West. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all our visitors from the mainland for their keen interest in the development of CUHK, and I hope that our successful partnership will continue to grow.
I was glad to reunite with our colleagues and students at CUHK-Shenzhen at the establishment ceremony of the Duan Family College, the seventh college of the CUHK-Shenzhen. The College further enriches the vibrancy of the collegiate system at CUHK-Shenzhen as it aims to develop a cohesive and inclusive community of students from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds. With a focus on whole-person education, the College provides a holistic environment where students are nurtured and inspired to shine in their own remarkable way. The extensive range of non-formal learning opportunities also helps cultivate genuine teacher-student relationships and encourage students to develop a strong sense of social responsibility. Congratulations to the Duan Family College on its official establishment and may it continue to motivate all its members to flourish and make unique contributions within and beyond the College community.
Celebrating achievements and advancing partnerships
The School of Continuing and Professional Studies of CUHK (CUSCS) held a kick-off ceremony of its 60th anniversary year on 13 June. Formerly the Department of Extramural Studies of the University, CUSCS has been a pioneer in providing quality continuing education to address the diverse and evolving needs of our society. Over the years, it has transformed into a vibrant educational hub, offering a wide variety of award-bearing programmes and general courses designed for working adults and senior learners to enhance their skills, explore new career paths, and enrich their lives, alongside full-time Higher Diploma and Diploma programmes for young adults to further their studies and develop their careers. May I extend my heartfelt congratulations to CUSCS on its diamond jubilee and thank all its member for their unwavering efforts, which have been the cornerstone of the development of CUSCS. I hope CUSCS will continue to embrace new challenges and seize emerging opportunities to serve our community and empower individuals through lifelong learning.
Last week, I was in the United States for the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Annual Presidents’ Meeting. Hosted by the University of California, San Diego, the three-day event gathered leaders of APRU member universities to discuss a pressing theme for our times: “Human Longevity in a Changing World”. I was honoured to speak on a panel about the critical role of biotechnology in addressing public health challenges and how international collaboration can amplify research impact. Since joining APRU in 2017, CUHK has enjoyed a strong presence not only in its leadership meetings, but also important partnerships that leverage the strengths of member universities to promote global learning opportunities for students, faculty development, and research collaboration. I am sure substantive dialogues among university leaders will enable us to navigate an era marked by demographic change, technological acceleration and global uncertainty together and shape the future of higher education so as to advance knowledge and impact across borders.
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
