For over nine thousands fresh graduates from CUHK, 17 November 2016 is the memorable date, on which they gathered together at the decorated University Mall to receive master’s and bachelor’s degrees at the 81st Congregation for the Conferment of Degrees. A new chapter of their lives has begun.

This year, a total of 5,593 master’s degrees and 4,029 bachelor’s degrees were conferred at the Congregation by Dr. Norman N.P. Leung, Chairman of the Council.

At the Congregation, Prof. Joseph Sung, CUHK Vice-Chancellor gave a speech to the graduates. He extended his best wishes and hoped the graduates would continue to support their alma mater in the future. He quoted the words of James Bryant Conant, an American educator and scientist, “Education is what is left after all that has been learnt is forgotten,” and hoped the graduates had learnt things useful to themselves, society and the country. He also encouraged each graduate to make life count as “we only live once.”

Prof. Sung also presented awards for teaching and research excellence, including the University Education Award, the Vice-Chancellor's Exemplary Teaching Award, and the Young Researcher Award and Postgraduate Research Output Award. Please click here to view the awardees’ list.

Awardees of the University Education Award this year, including Prof. Leung Mei-yee, Dr. Chiu Chu-lee Julie and Dr. Wong Wing-hung from the University General Education Programme, Prof. Chan Yip Wing-han Carmen, Prof. Chair Sek-ying, Prof. Chow Ka-ming and Dr. Wong Cho-lee Jo Jo from The Nethersole School of Nursing, and Prof. Lu Yi-chun from the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering were invited to talk about their ideas on enhancing the student learning experience in a video. Several fresh graduates also expressed their happiness and gratitude to CUHK through a video.

Please click here to watch the sharing by graduates
Please click here to watch the talk by awardees of the University Education Award
Please click here to listen to the speech by Prof. Sung

Prof. Lawrence Wong Ka-sing, Mok Hing Yiu Professor of Medicine and Head of the Division of Neurology of the Department of Medicine & Therapeutics has recently received the ‘WSO President’s Award for Services to Stroke’ at the biennial World Stroke Congress for the contribution by him and his team to stroke research. Prof. Wong is the first Chinese to receive this prestigious world honour for stroke services.

According to the World Stroke Organization (WSO), it is estimated that 1 in 6 people will have stroke in their lifetime, and stroke is much more common in Chinese than in the West. In 1998, Professor Wong first discovered that narrowing of the blood vessels in the brain (intracranial atherosclerosis) was the most common cause of stroke in the Chinese population. In 2010, an international multi-center research led by CUHK established that the use of double antiplatelet drugs is much more effective in reducing the number of circulating tiny blood clots in patients with mild stroke, and now the use of double antiplatelet drugs is standard in clinical practice.

Despite emergency treatment, about 15-30% of stroke patients become disabled on discharge from hospital. However, the main underlying causes of disability, including reduced blood flow to the brain and lack of stimulated activities of the surviving brain cells, are not targeted for treatment. Professor Wong’s team has developed an innovative approach named ‘Pulse-Magnetic-Stimulation (PMS)’, which is the world’s first attempt to combine external counterpulsation, Intermittent theta burst magnetic stimulation and physiotherapy for the recovery of motor function of the disabled upper limb after stroke.

With support from the I•CARE Programme, a student-led eco fashion campaign "Fashion Awakening Week" has been held from 10-18 November on campus.

According to Greenpeace, which is a co-organiser of the campaign, nearly 8.7 million pieces of clothing were dumped annually in Hong Kong. More than half of the consumers can easily find clothes in their wardrobe that they seldom wear. In the face of the increasing popularity of fast fashion, some students at CUHK chose to lead a different trend on campus. They came up with an idea to set up a platform for exchanging secondhand clothes during the summer holiday this year and they successfully opened a shop on campus to put their idea into practice and introduce the concept of green fashion to more people. After just a few months, the shop is running well. Equipped with standing mirrors and a changing room, the shop is filled with arrays of secondhand clothes, making it an interesting outlet for customers to explore. It has even recruited student models to pose for photos wearing the secondhand clothes to demonstrate how to mix and match.

For the opening ceremony of "Fashion Awakening Week", Prof. Anthony Fung, Director of the School of Journalism and Communication and Fong Tai-tsor, a Hong Kong writer were invited to talk about fashion and overconsumption. The campaign also invited a textile artist and a local designer to organise workshops to teach upcycling and tips about matching clothes. As well as secondhand clothes fairs on campus, the campaign organised a tour to explore secondhand clothes shops in Kowloon District. There were also film screenings to let the students and participants reflect on the impact of fast fashion.

CUHK students and staff are welcome to visit the shop on the ground floor of John Fulton Centre and be an eco-friendly fashionista.