Professor Way Kuo, President of City University of Hong Kong (CityU), met and greeted around 200 new students at the annual O’Camp on 2 September.

He was accompanied by 22 members of the following senior management team, deans of colleges and schools, and heads of departments:

• Professor Horace Ip Ho-shing, Vice-President (Student Affairs)  
• Professor Matthew Lee Kwok-on, Vice-President (Development and External Relations)
• Mr Sunny Lee Wai-kwong, Vice-President (Administration)         
• Professor Paul Lam Kwan-sing, Chief-of-Staff          
• Dr Kevin Downing, Secretary to Council
• Professor Richard Yuen Kwok-kit, Acting Director of Communications and Public Relations
• Professor Richard Walker, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences           
• Professor Raymond Chan Hon-fu, Dean, College of Science
• Professor Michael Yang Mengsu, Acting Dean, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences
• Dr Howard Wong Kai-hay, Director, Professional Development and Communications, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences           
• Professor Chan Chak-keung, Dean, School of Energy and Environment
• Professor Robert Li Kwok-yiu, Associate Dean, Chow Yei Ching School of Graduate Studies
• Professor Eric Chui Wing-hong, Dean of Students
• Dr Lau Kai-chung, Associate Head, Department of Chemistry
• Professor Stella Pang, Head, Department of Electrical Engineering
• Professor Liu Mei-chun, Head, Department of Linguistics and Translation
• Professor Julie Li Juan, Acting Head, Department of Marketing
• Professor Shek Chan-hung, Acting Head, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
• Professor Lo Tit-wing, Acting Head, Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Professor John Lin Zhang, Head, Division of Building Science and Technology
• Dr Tim Wong Chi-tim, Director of Student Development Services
• Dr Ron Kwok Chi-wai, Associate Professor, Department of Information Systems

In his remarks, President Kuo welcomed the freshmen to join CityU. He challenged students to make the most of their coming four years in CityU. Beyond acquiring knowledge, they should cultivate soft skills such as communication ability, behaving around people and creativity.

“In the spirit of harmony and warmth, I hope you can embrace your ideals, make friends, grow, develop as an individual, and learn to think independently,” he said.

The University has received words of concern and complaints from different sectors since the social turmoil began in Hong Kong over the summer holiday. Universities must be politically neutral in order to uphold campus autonomy and CityU urges students to respect campus diversity and be obliged by law. All opinions must be expressed in a peaceful and rational manner and street politics must not be brought to campus. The University will not tolerate any form of violence or vulgar language, either.

CityU adopts a diverse approach in welcoming our new students. Every college, school, department and student society organises its own orientation activities. President Kuo especially made time from his tight schedule to attend O’Camp organised by the Students’ Union. As far as possible, he will attend orientation activities organised by other units.

As President Kuo had another appointment after the event, he extended his best wishes to the students and encouraged them to study well in CityU’s harmonious and inclusive environment. He also indicated his willingness to communicate in the future with students holding different opinions.