22 June 2021

Dear alumni,

Last month was a special moment for CityU. Our graduating students celebrated their milestone academic achievement at the Commencement Ceremony held on campus in hybrid mode over the course of 32 socially distanced sessions.

My best wishes to all graduating students for commencing a new chapter in their lives.

We have launched several initiatives in support of the employment plans of these graduating students. These initiatives include the CityU CAReer Launch Scheme, matching funds, professional support for job hunting and career consultations, and online job expos, among others.

Many other opportunities are available for alumni, such as HK Tech 300, CityU’s flagship innovation and entrepreneurship programme. With an investment of HK$500 million, HK Tech 300 is reaching out to aspiring entrepreneurs in the CityU community and plans to help launch 300 start-ups in three years. I am excited to think how this new programme will create new companies, generate fresh ideas, and ultimately benefit society.

We aspire to nurture future leaders for social and economic progress. A new initiative, the CityU Talents Programme, to begin this September, will provide a rare opportunity for the most outstanding students to immerse themselves in specially designed courses and research topics under the expert guidance of our world-class scholars.

The high-quality input from our faculty members will be a major reason behind the success of the Talents Programme. Their research is increasingly recognised on the world stage as shown when colleagues and alumni won 12 awards, the highest number among universities in Hong Kong, at the Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days 2021. Dr Edwin Tso Chi-yan from the School of Energy and Environment received the Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury, the most prestigious among the prizes. He was recognised for a passive radiative cooling paint that uses the universe as a cooling source.

In addition, two research projects clinched major Ministry of Education awards. A project on geotechnical structures in hydraulic engineering by Professor Wang Yu of the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering and his team won the 2020 First Class award in the Natural Science category at the Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards (Science and Technology). The Second Class Award was won by a project on video coding technology conducted by Professor Sam Kwong Tak-wu, Chair Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, and his team.

CityU has also recently been recognised as one of the top 100 worldwide universities granted US utility patents by the National Academy of Inventors. This places the University at 51st in the world, the highest position in our history, and ranks us top among local universities for the 5th consecutive year.

The success of our student learning and research activities is directly linked to the support that our alumni offer. In appreciation of the generous donation of alumnus Dr Gary Cheng Faat-ting and his wife Judith, the Student Career Centre on campus has been named “Judith and Gary Cheng Student Career Centre”. The donation will help to provide important resources for the University Research Advancement Project and enable CityU to pursue research excellence.

I wish you a healthy and safe summer!

Way Kuo
President and University Distinguished Professor

CityUpdate
President's Blog ─ Way to Kuo