HKSAR honours
The Council Chairman The Hon Leung Chun-ying is one of two recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal in this year's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Chief Executive Honours List for his long and distinguished public service. In addition, six current and former Council members, a Court member, a faculty member and six alumni of CityU have been recognised for their contributions to Hong Kong.

Honorary awards
Honorary doctoral degrees will be conferred on Dr Lien Chan, Professor John F. Nash, Jr, The Hon Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, and Professor Xu Kuangdi in recognition of their significant contributions to education and the well-being of society. The awards ceremony will be held in November 2011 during the University's Congregation.

Dr Lien, Honorary Chairman of the Kuomintang, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Social Science. Nobel Laureate Professor Nash will receive an Honorary Doctor of Science. Mr Tsang, President of the Legislative Council of the HKSAR, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws. Professor Xu, Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, will receive an Honorary Doctor in Engineering.

QS rankings
CityU ranks in the top 50 universities worldwide in linguistics, according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject for 2011. It is the first time the University has broken into the top 50 ranked subjects in a QS survey and reveals clearly the world-class status of our linguistics programmes and research. The University has also been placed in the top 51-100 in English language and literature.

Research Excellence Award 
The winner of the CityU Research Excellence Award 2011 is Professor Andrey Rogach of the Department of Physics and Materials Science. The award will be presented at the University Congregation in November. Professor Rogach is an expert in functional optical materials, in particular in synthesis, optical spectroscopy and applications of semiconductor and metal nanocrystals in photovoltaics and biomedicine. He heads up the Centre for Functional Photonics (CFP), a new research centre devoted to the study of this dynamic field.

New appointments 
Professor Cheung Yin-wong assumed duty on 4 July as Chair Professor of International Economics in the Department of Economics and Finance. Professor Cheung received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and has held academic positions at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of Hong Kong. An outstanding scholar and researcher, he has a world-class publications record in international economics, finance and econometrics. 

Professor Liew Kim-meow took up the post of  Head of Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, formerly the Department of Building and Construction, on 1 July 2011. He joined the University in 2005 and is currently Chair Professor in the department.

Dr Jane Lockwood was appointed Head of the English Language Centre with effect from 1 July 2011. Before joining CityU in 2010, Dr Lockwood was the Head of the Centre for Language in Education at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.  She has extensive, international experience in the management and teaching of English Language Teaching (ELT) education and ELT teacher education in academic, public and commercial settings.

Industry award
Plasma Technology Limited, a company established by Chair Professor Paul Chu Kim-ho from the Department of Physics of Materials Science and his research team with a $1 million start-up grant from the Trade and Industry Department of the HKSAR Government, has been awarded a Certificate of Merit in the Technological Achievement category of the 2011 Hong Kong Awards for Industries.

Tsinghua exchange
Fifteen students from the College of Science and Engineering will have the chance to join the "Tsien Hsue-shen Mechanics Class Summer Internship" programme organised by Tsinghua University. This is the first time Tsinghua University has invited a local university to participate in the programme. The aim is to foster academic exchanges and advance intellectual standards between the two institutions.

Book Fair
CityU Press is participating in the Hong Kong Book Fair from 20 to 26 July at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wanchai. This year, the publishing arm of the University will launch 12 new titles and display all of them at discount prices. The booth will be located at 1D-A28, University Press Square, Exhibition Hall 1. Professor Way Kuo, President of CityU, will give a talk on 23 July at 3pm about the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Kudos
A team comprising students from the Department of Electronic Engineering (EE) and the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management (SEEM) won the Second Runner-Up Award for the Robocon Competition 2011. The winning project was supervised by Dr Ricky Lau Wing-hong, Associate Professor in EE, and SEEM's Dr Louis Liu King-pui, Instructor I, and Dr Luk Bing-lam, Senior Engineer. Robocon is an international robot contest launched by Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union in 2002.  

The moot team of the School of Law was ranked 7th out of 254 teams around the world in the 18th Annual Willem C. Vis International Copmmercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna. One of the team members, Year 1 student Eric Ng Kar-yan, received the perfect scores of 50/50 and was awarded an honorable mention as the best oralist in the competition.