QS ranking
CityU has surged nearly 20 places in the QS World University Rankings of the world’s top 500 universities, from 129th position in 2010 to 110th this year. Since 2006, CityU has jumped 44 places in QS / Times Higher Education Supplement surveys of universities around the world, despite increased competition and elevated standards in many parts of the world.

Honorary Fellow ceremony
CityU will confer the title of Honorary Fellow on four distinguished persons in recognition of their distinctive contributions to the development of and service to the University, either from within or through efforts from outside the University. They are Dr John Chan Chun-tung, Mr Wong Cho-bau, Mr Wong Kam-po, and Mr Nelson Yip Siu-hong. The Honorary Fellow Presentation Ceremony will be held on 22 September.

DEC lecture
The new Discovery-enriched Curriculum (DEC) will prepare CityU students for a highly globalised, hi-tech world by enabling all its undergraduates to have the opportunity to make an original discovery during their studies. Professor Arthur Ellis, Provost, will present an overview of the DEC and what it means for the CityU community and its stakeholders in the next President's Lecture Series: Excellence in Academia. The title of the Provost’s talk is “Re-defining the Teaching-Research Nexus: Building the CityU Discovery-enriched Curriculum”. It will take place on 12 September.

Idea Incubator Scheme
Idea Incubators provide new venues for creative and innovative ideas devised by faculty and students, and create a vehicle for knowledge transfer. This initiative will be the focus of a Town Hall Meeting on 9 September where Professor Ellis, Provost, Professor Gregory Raupp, Vice-President (Research and Technology), Professor Gary Feng, Associate Provost (Academic Planning and Undergraduate Education), and Professor Christian Wagner, Associate Provost (Quality Assurance) and Associate Dean (School of Creative Media), will field questions and provide more background.

NSFC research grants
Thirteen out of the 45 projects submitted by the CityU Shenzhen Research Institute have been selected for funding in the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Research Grants competition for 2011, a success rate of 29%, significantly higher than the overall average success rate of 21%. CityU’s participation in the competition was substantially higher than last year when 10 applications were submitted.

Technology Transfer Forum
The Knowledge Transfer Office will organise two Technology Transfer Forums in September. The first one will be held on 16 September at the CityU (Shenzhen) Research Institute Building on “Advances on Nanocomposite Coating Technologies”. Professor Xue Quan, Associate Vice-President (Innovation Advancement and China Office), will deliver the welcoming address. Speakers at the forum will include Dr Zhang Wenjun of the Department of Physics and Materials Science, and Dr Zhou Zhifeng and Dr Sam Shum Po-wan of the Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering. The second one will be held on 28 September on “Advances in Building and Construction Technologies”. The forum, to be held on campus, will feature talks by Dr Wu Yufei and Dr John Cheung Chun-kuen of the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering.