The University-wide Congregation for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) was held on 22 November 2016 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Presiding at the Congregation was Professor Way KUO, President of City University of Hong Kong (CityU). Subsequently, joyful graduates donned their caps and gowns, with smiling faces filling the CityU campus. Around 6,000 CLASS graduates and their parents, relatives and friends, together with faculty and staff members, participated in the College Graduation Ceremony held from 23 to 26 November 2016 in the Wong Cheung Lo Hui Yuet Hall in the Lau Ming Wai Academic Building at CityU.
Professor Xiaowei ZANG, Dean of CLASS, delivered an address at the first session of the College Graduation Ceremony for the Department of Asian and International Studies. Professor Dennis WONG and Professor Peppina LEE, in the capacity of Acting Dean of CLASS, presided at the subsequent 12 sessions of College Graduation Ceremony to celebrate the success of CLASS graduates.
Photo 2: Prof Xiaowei Zang delivered a commencement address at the College Graduation Ceremony.
Professor Zang thanked parents for sending their beloved children to CityU and faculty members for their passion for teaching, research and commitment to the students. ‘We have inspired our students to be eager for knowledge beyond grades,’ said Professor Zang. ‘We have taught our students character, virtue and citizenship, and we have educated our students to think and reason in a rational way.’ Professor Zang encouraged the graduates to follow their dreams, and take with them the knowledge they have acquired and the open minds that their teachers have worked hard to develop in them when the graduates embarked on their life journeys.
Representatives of graduates from the Departments of Applied Social Sciences, Asian and International Studies, Chinese and History, English, Linguistics and Translation, Media and Communication and Public Policy gave addresses at various sessions of the ceremony. On behalf of their fellow graduates, the representatives expressed their fervent gratitude to parents, teachers and friends for guidance and support in times of happiness and sadness, ups and downs. The class of 2016 was getting ready to set out into society, and create their own life experiences.
The participants happily chatted and congratulated one another at the tea reception held after the ceremonies. The College ordered graduation cakes for the Departments and produced a specially designed leather cardholder for all graduates.
This year, the first cohort of normative four-year degree students graduated from CityU since the 334 scheme for education reform in Hong Kong was implemented in 2012. Under the four-year undergraduate curriculum, students benefit from a broad-based university education with enriched learning experiences, international exposure and well-rounded development.
At the university-wide congregation held on 22 November 2016, a total of 2,303 academic awards were conferred to graduates of CLASS, including 1,166 Bachelor’s degrees, 1,093 Master’s degrees and postgraduate diplomas/certificates and 44 Doctor and Master of Philosophy degrees.
Cover photo: Around 6,000 CLASS graduates and their parents, relatives and friends, together with faculty and staff members, participated in the College Graduation Ceremony.
Photo 3: CLASS graduates received their souvenirs from the College.
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