CUHK
News Centre

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is committed to supporting student athletes in their pursuit of dual-track development in sports training and academic studies. This year, 38 elite athletes have received the Sports Scholarship, including 13 elite athletes who have been admitted via the inaugural Student-Athlete Learning Support and Admission (SALSA) Scheme.

CUHK has always valued student diversity and whole-person development. The University has supported student-athletes for years through the Sports Scholarship Scheme and School Principals’ Nominations Scheme, alongside the SALSA Scheme launched this year. The University caters to the special needs of elite athletes, including their training and competition schedules, helping them balance their athletic careers and academic studies by offering flexibility in study periods and one-to-one academic tutorials. The 13 students admitted through the SALSA Scheme are outstanding athletes in skating, swimming, athletics, para-badminton, rugby, triathlon, tennis, karatedo, wushu and karting (please refer to table 1 in appendix).

CUHK Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Professor Andy Wong Ka-chat gave a warm welcome to all admitted student athletes, saying, “CUHK provides comprehensive learning support for student athletes. They can set up flexible timetables through the University’s credit unit system with built-in flexibility to balance their dual careers. By engaging our business connections and alumni network, we will create internship opportunities to enhance the development of student athletes’ career paths when they retire from active sport.”

To help strengthen long term prospects for graduates, CUHK actively engages with various organisations in Hong Kong to offer mentorships, career support and internship opportunities to student athletes, helping them to plan their careers beyond professional sport. The University has reached an agreement with Citi Hong Kong to launch a pre-employment experience programme, a mentorship programme and an internship programme tailor-made for student athletes. In addition, CUHK offers Hong Kong’s first university-wide Co-operative Education Programme, which partners with more than 75 top global and local companies and organisations, and will design special courses and workplace experiences for student athletes.