On 19 November, CUHK held its 78th Congregation for the Conferment of Degrees. Thousands of fresh graduates gathered at the University Mall to receive Master's and Bachelor's degrees.

At the Congregation, Prof. Joseph Sung, CUHK Vice-Chancellor gave a speech to the graduates, titled ‘The Young are the Hope for Our Future’. He quoted the words of Mr. Liang Qichao, a Chinese Philosopher, “Intelligent youths make an intelligent nation; rich youths make a rich nation; strong youths make a strong nation; independent youths make an independent nation; free youths make a free nation; and forward-looking youths make a forward-looking nation,” and encouraged the graduates not to underestimate their role in society. He believes that “Our young people can, with their knowledge, wisdom, and sincerity, contribute to society.”

At the congregation, Prof. Joseph Sung conferred 6,167 Master’s and 3,732 Bachelor’s degrees. He also officiated at the Inauguration of the Choh-Ming Li Professorships and presented awards to 27 outstanding teachers and researchers. Awardees’ list: http://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/en/press_detail.php?1=1&id=2130

Let’s hear the speech by Prof. Sung and see the Master’s Degree Graduation Ceremony through the videos.

Vice-Chancellor’s speech: http://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/cutv/detail/664?lang=en

Master’s Degree Graduation Ceremony: http://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/cutv/detail/667?lang=en

On 18 November, CUHK held a summit on Assessment and Development of Academic Chinese as one of the initiating universities including Peking University, Nanjing University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Taiwan University. A total of 32 cross-strait universities from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau signed a collaboration agreement to promote Chinese as an internationally recognized research language during this remarkable historic event across the four regions.

Higher education institutions in today’s world increasingly rely on indicators and citation counts to gauge research impact and performance. The majority of the cross-strait Chinese journals do not find their way to the citation index and the impact factor, greatly hindering the development of humanities and social science research in the context of Chinese societies. To address the issue, cross-strait universities, including Hong Kong and Macau, are now joining hands to enhance the status of Chinese journals in the global research arena.

One of the key missions of the collaboration is to compile a list of recommended quality Chinese journals as an important reference for cross-strait and international academia, so as to raise the impact of Chinese in academic research fields.

On 26 November, Prof. Charles Kao’s first solo art exhibition reaches its last stop — The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library. The exhibition, which includes 30 pieces of artwork created between 2013 and 2015 by Prof. Kao, will run until 11 December. Members of the public are welcome to visit.

As CUHK’s former Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Charles Kao was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his study on fiber optics. Suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Prof Kao turned his focus to art and gained pleasure from painting in recent years. The colorful paintings on display are in five themes, namely flowers, animals, vehicles, scenery and festivals. From dots and simple lines to sophisticated images, the paintings reflect Prof. Kao’s happiness from drawing.

In 2010, Prof. Kao and his wife set up the Charles K. Kao Foundation for Alzheimer's Disease, which aims to raise Hong Kong people’s awareness of Alzheimer’s disease through education, and bring new hope to the patients and their families. To celebrate the Foundation’s 5th anniversary, this exhibition by Prof. Kao hopes to help people to gain an insight of how art can bring colorful lives to patients with Alzheimer's disease and their carers. The paintings are also available for silent auction and all proceeds will be used to support dementia care and related education projects.

For more information on the Charity Silent Auction, please visit the page: http://charleskaofoundation.org/en/news.aspx?n=238

Exhibition details:
Date: 26 November - 11 December, 2015
Venue: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library
Library Opening Hours: http://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk