16 December 2016 Dear alumni, As 2016 winds down, I would like to wish all our alumni a prosperous and healthy 2017. Once again we have been very fortunate throughout the past twelve months to be on the receiving end of such generosity and support. In particular, I would like to thank everyone for helping to raise over HK10 million in November at the annual dinner of the CityU Foundation. The money raised will be used for overseas student exchange and internship programmes. CityU is committed to enabling nearly two-thirds of our student body to get experience in overseas cultures during their studies. I would also like to make special mention of an alumnus from the School of Creative Media, Mr Wong Chun (黃進), for his outstanding achievements in filmmaking. He won the Best New Director award for his debut feature film Mad World 《一念無明》 at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards in November 2016. His resilience of pulling the team together to make this film happen, under a tight budget, touched a lot of people. Through his talent and passion, Mr Wong will serve as a great role model for CityU students and fellow alumni pursuing their dreams in the creative industries. Staying with the theme of creativity and culture, I hope that many of you can visit, if you haven’t already done so, our latest multi-media exhibition on campus. This one focuses on traditional Hakka kung fu through the use of cutting-edge digital technology in an exhibition titled “300 Years of Hakka Kung Fu — Digital vision of its legacy and future”. CityU is deeply committed to helping to preserve intangible cultural heritage, and I am sure many of you sampled our previous exhibition on the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang, China; our Castiglione exhibition; and our celebrations of Tong-an ships, among others. The Hakka kung fu exhibition, jointly organised by CityU and the International Guoshu Association, will run through 4 January 2017. Highly recommended! In addition, it was very rewarding for me to share the latest updates about the University’s development with alumni at the “Dialogue with the President”. This event, which was co-organised by the Alumni Relations Office and the CityU Convocation on 17 Nov, provided an opportunity for sharing more about the School of Veterinary Medicine, in particular its acquisition of a leading veterinary clinic in Hong Kong, as well as CityU’s overall rising status and world ranking. Such gatherings are a great way for interactive exchange, for me to meet alumni and a chance for you to find out more about what is happening at your alma mater. One other bit of news that I am sure you will find interesting is we became the first university in Hong Kong to receive the QS 5-Star Plus Award from the QS Asia-Pacific Professional Leaders in Education (QS-APPLE) conference. This award recognises CityU as an elite destination for the very best students and faculty worldwide, and acknowledges our research excellence, quality in teaching, globalisation experience for students, and capacity for nurturing student talent. In fact, CityU now ranks 3rd in Hong Kong according to the latest QS Asian University Rankings. Finally, I would like to thank the CityU community including alumni for participating in the activity to identify a floral emblem for CityU. I am sure you will all agree that the Brazil bougainvillea is the perfect symbol for CityU: colourful, dynamic, resilient and hardy! Best wishes for everyone during the holiday season, and a Happy New Year! Way Kuo |
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