Newsletter No. 229

New Council Chairman Confers MB ChB Degrees on Medical Graduates at the 5 9 t h Cong r ega t i on A t o t a l o f 156 B a c h e l or o f Me d i c i ne and Ba c he l or o f Surgery degrees were conferred by Dr. Edgar W.K. Cheng, new chairman of the University Council, at the University's 59th Congregation on Friday, 24th October 2003 at the Sir Run Run Shaw Hall. The day was also Dr. Cheng's first day of office as Council chairman. The med i cal graduates were s i ng l ed out f or honour this year because of the decision of the General Medical Council of the UK to require non -EU doctors qualifying after 31st October 2003 to pass an examination before they can register. Aw a r d i ng the me d i c al graduates o f 2003 their degrees before that day would enable them to enjoy the privileges o f f u ll and p r ov i s i onal r eg i s t r a t i on right away. In his address to the medical graduates, vice- chancellor Prof. Ambrose K i n g said that doc t o rs graduating from local universities are now permitted to practise provisionally for up to three years in mainland hospitals and clinics, and that policies regarding medical practice are expected to be further liberalized with the introduction of CEPA. The vice-chancellor also praised the noble sentiments and lofty ideals of Dr. Tse Yuen Man, a 1992 graduate who contracted SARS while attending to her patients and eventually lost her life, and urged the graduates to learn from their role models in the Faculty of Medicine to become true sons and daughters of Hong Kong and the pride of CUHK. Upcoming Anniversary Celebrations 8th November Academic Conferences Public Healt h in t he 21st Century 10th and 17th November CUHK 40 th Ann i versary Spec ial TV Programme (11.10 p.m. to 11.45 p.m., TVB Jade) 14th November Launch of the CUHK Quality of Life Index 14th and 15th November I n t erna t i onal Conference on Qual i ty of Lif e i na Globa l Worl d Please visit http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/40thanniversary for the latest information. Dr. Edgar Cheng posing with the medical graduates Top Recognition Again for EMBA Programme T he EMBA Programme of the University has, for the third year in a row, emerged as the top-ranking non-partnership programme in Asia and among the top 20 such programmes worldwide, in the latest global survey conducted by London-based Financial Times. Over 80 business schools participated in this survey wh i ch included both global and partnership programmes. As in the 2002 survey, business schools were assessed on the basis of information supplied by the schools and feedback independently obtained from alumni. The two were given equal weighting. The University's EMBA Programme distinguished itself in the survey not only as a uniquely Hong Kong programme but also as one of only two business schools in the top 20 adopting two languages as the media o f instruction. I t scored high in areas such as salary increase, wo rk experience, international students, and percentage of women students. 'Oursis the first EMBA Programme in Hong Kong and a truly made- in-Hong Kong product. The programme's success is, therefore, Hong Kong 's success,' said Prof. And r ew Chan, director o f the E M BA Programme. Engineering Students Win Nanotechnology and Robotics Awards M s. Carmen K .M. Fung ( l e f t ) and Mr. Hoyin Chan ( r i g h t ) , doctoral students conducting research at the Centre for Micro and Nano Systems, recently won prestigious awards at top international conferences for their research projects. Ms. Fung received the Best Student Poster Paper Award for her work on nano-sensors at the IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology, the top annual conference for nanotechnologists across the world. Mr. Chan won the Best Conference Paper Award f r om the I EEE I n t e r na t i onal Conference o n Robotics and Automation (ICRA) for his work on biological cell manipulation. Mr. Chan beat more than 600 participants who presented papers at the conference to w in the award. The ICRA is the most widely attended international conference for leading robotics experts. Both Ms. Fung and Mr. Chan are currently supervised by Prof. Wen J. L i (centre) o f the Department of Automation and Computer-Aided Engineering. 1 No. 229 4th November 2003