Empowering future global leaders through innovative learning programmes

Students from CUHK and Yonsei forge lasting friendships and rekindle a deep appreciation for their cultural heritage, fostering mutual respect and a shared sense of global community.

To advance the University’s mission to cultivate students with a global vision and mindset to become future leaders, the Office of Academic Links (OAL) collaborates with leading universities worldwide to offer innovative experiential learning programmes that empower students to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.

One of such initiatives is the Cultural Management Programme, launched in collaboration with Yonsei University (Yonsei)’s Underwood International College (UIC). Jointly spearheaded by CUHK’s Department of Cultural and Religious Studies and OAL, alongside the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Division at UIC, the second iteration of the programme ran from March to June 2025. This year, the programme brought together around 20 students from CUHK and Yonsei UIC from diverse backgrounds, including Hong Kong, Korea, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Russia, and the US.

This credit-bearing hybrid initiative blended virtual classrooms and project-based assignments with immersive field trips to Hong Kong and Seoul. Students explored the cultural and creative industries of both cities through a comparative lens, guided by faculty and practitioners from industry from varied backgrounds. The programme offered a deep dive into design thinking across different teaching and learning environments, equipping students with insights into creative entrepreneurship and the visual design of urban spaces.

Another international collaboration programme sees CUHK partnering with the University of Glasgow (UofG) and the Glasgow College (Chengdu and Hainan) of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) to launch the CUHK-UESTC-UofG Joint Summer Programme under the CUHK International Summer School. Held in July 2025, the programme featured a co-taught course in biomedical and electronic engineering, with a focus on design thinking and global health. Students took part in hands-on lab sessions and project-based learning in Chengdu and Hong Kong, gaining a multidisciplinary perspective on innovation and problem-solving.

Students from the CUHK-UESTC-UofG Joint Summer Programme gain meaningful insights and hands-on experience through this cross-institutional collaboration in biomedical engineering.

Together, these programmes exemplify CUHK’s commitment to cultivating globally minded leaders through pioneering models of international education that extend far beyond traditional exchange programmes.