Court members were given a thorough overview of recent events at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) during the 16th meeting of the Court on 13 November.

The agenda featured addresses by Dr Chung Shui-ming, Pro-Chancellor, Mr Lester Garson Huang, Chairman of the Council, and President Way Kuo covering topics such as our new Strategic Plan 2020–2025, the CityU (Dongguan) Project and the CityU Anthem.

Dr Chung began by acknowledging the enormous range of challenges that the social unrest and Covid-19 had presented, but praised CityU for its exemplary leadership and its care for students during this period.

“The University’s continuous assistance to our students, even after graduation, has been formidable,” he said. “At a time when the job market has been tough to break into, CityU has travelled the extra mile to offer career coaching and job-landing opportunities.”

In his address, Mr Huang praised CityU’s response to Covid-19, especially the rolling out of the online, real-time platform CityU-Learning in record-breaking time after the virus forced all face-to-face teaching to be suspended earlier this year. 

“The entire University came together to produce a system which allowed our students to continue with their studies,” he said.

His talk also touched on the Strategic Plan 2020–2025, the CityU (Dongguan) Project, Academic 5 (International Centre), human resources matters, risk management, and the appointment of a corporate trustee and the formation of a pension committee.

Referencing a speech by Robert F. Kennedy in 1966, President Kuo said in his talk that although we lived in uncertain times, there was a great deal of scope for creativity, and he praised CityU faculty, staff, alumni and supporters for their support.

He said that although donations to CityU had been temporarily curtailed because of uncertainty over the social unrest and the pandemic, he was pleased to report that an uptick was taking place.

For example, he said, a meaningful donation from the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation had been received on the morning of the Court meeting to fund the Kiki Hung Scholarship in memory of courageous alumna Ms Kiki Hung Mei-ki who had passed away.

“I was very touched that the Foundation was supporting and encouraging our students,” he said.

CityU’s efforts to set up an Emergency Response Unit, he said, were also a highlight of recent months, and he commended the senior management team for its leadership in managing crises since August 2019.

In addition to a thorough discussion of the Strategic Plan, there was a report on the new CityU Anthem and a freshly produced video highlighting many aspects of CityU life today.

This short film focused on, among other recent achievements, our positive response to the pandemic, research and technological breakthroughs, outreach projects, graduate employment support, the scope of the new Strategic Plan, our new classification system for undergraduate degrees, and the exciting new fundraising campaign to be launched towards the end of the year.