CityU raises $120m in the Third Matching Grant Scheme
The hard work of the entire University community, including members of the University Council, academic and administrative colleagues, alumni and students, has paid dividends. CityU's fundraising efforts since June 2006 have raised $117m for the Third Matching Grant Scheme. The overall figure rises to $200m when the Government's contribution of $80m through the Scheme is factored in. The total raised signifies a 60% increase on the total amount raised under the Second Matching Grant Scheme, and this round saw the number of individual donors offering $10m each reach a new record.

Formation of trade unions at CityU
The Management Board endorsed at its meeting on 12 January a series of recommendations concerning issues related to the formation of trade unions at CityU. It was agreed that a trade union at CityU would be granted official management recognition once it had been in operation for two years or more, had held at least one executive committee meeting, had conducted at least one election to its executive committee, and had attained the set percentage for membership enrollment and the number of full-time staff required. With these criteria fulfilled, the trade union will be able to enjoy office facilities on campus and the provision of electronic communications such as email, website and EBS.

Hong Kong Awards for Industries
Genetel Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a CityU subsidiary company led by Professor Michael Yang Mengsu in the Department of Biology and Chemistry, has been awarded the "Technological Achievement Grand Award" for its cervical cancer diagnostic technology in the 2006 Hong Kong Awards for Industries. CityU is the first tertiary institution to receive the Grand Award. The awards presentation ceremony, to be officiated by Financial Secretary the Hon Henry Tang Ying-yen, will be held on 5 February.

New Council members
CityU is dedicated to maintaining strong links with the community and the make up of the University Council reflects the strength and breadth of our connections with local business and professional communities. Four leading members of these sectors have been appointed to the University Council for a term of three years with effect from 1 January 2007: Mr Rex Auyeung Pak-kuen, Senior Vice President & Chief Executive – Asia, Principal International, Inc; Ms Maggie Chan Man-ki, Partner, Fong Chan & Lee Solicitors; Mr David Fong Man-hung, Deputy Managing Director, Hip Shing Hong Group of Companies; and Mr Wong Kai-man, Senior Advisor, Tricor Services Limited.

Applied research recognized in Shenzhen
The CityU Shenzhen Research Institute, the CityU Biotechnolgy and Health Centre and the IRIS Software (Shenzhen) Limited, one of CityU's incubate companies, received awards from the Shenzhen Virtual University Park in recognition of their achievements in nurturing skilled researchers and forging technology transfer in the past year.

CityU and Tianjin U cultural exchange
An enriching cultural exchange is an ideal forum to bring together young people to share interests, talent and aspirations. To mark a new undertaking promoting such exchanges between university students from Hong Kong and the mainland, the City University Choir and the Peiyang Chorus of Tianjin University will present an evening of songs and musical celebration on 6 February at the Wei Hing Theatre, CityU. This performance will be followed up with a concert by the CityU Philharmonic Orchestra and the Pei Yang Art Troupe of Tianjin University, featuring over 100 talented musicians, on 9 February at City Hall.

City Literary Awards deadline postponed
The Awards have received an overwhelming response so far and more submissions are expected. The deadline for entry has been put back to 26 February to allow entrants more time and flexibility. All writers aged 15 to 24 in Hong Kong and Macau are encouraged to submit their Chinese literary writings in prose, short stories or poetry under the theme "City Changes". The results will be announced in April and the winning entries will be published later this year in City Literature, a collection of winning entries and literary writings by the CityU community.

External appointment
Professor (Chair) Horace Ip Ho-shing of the Department of Computer Science has been re-appointed by the Education and Manpower Bureau to the Quality Education Fund Steering Committee for a two-year period starting 16 January 2007.

MKT wins distinguished paper award
Dr Yang Zhilin, Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing (MKT), has won the McGraw-Hill Irwin Distinguished Paper Award for the 2007 Conference of the Southwest Decision Sciences Institute, to be held in the US in March. The paper, which he co-authored, is titled "Performance Implication of Cooperative Norms", and was selected from 155 submissions.

Kudos
Val Chen Zili, a PhD student in the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, has been chosen by 2041, an international environmental organization, to represent Hong Kong on an eco-expedition to Antarctica in February.

Siu Wai-hang, a Year 1 student in the School of Creative Media, is funded to travel to the UK this summer to work as a photojournalist after he came top in the British Consulate-General's "Media.UK" project.