“I wish I were a student here”, said Tung Chee-hwa, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Chairman of the China-United States Exchange Foundation and former Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of Hong Kong after he paid a brief visit to CUHK (SZ) (‘University’). He thought of it as a forward looking step to form CUHK (SZ) at Shenzhen.

Other honored guests accompanying him included Ng Chee-Siong, founder and Chairman of Sino Group, Leung Kam-chung, former Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and CEO at Nan Fung Group, Chan Fan-Cheong, President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Beifang Dai, Chairman of Shenzhen Political Consultative Conference, Yangsheng Xu, President of CUHK (SZ), as well as other University officials.

President Xu pointed out that the difficulty in building a university is to set up its academic standards and culture. The academic quality of CUHK (SZ) is supervised by The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) as it inherits the culture of CUHK as well as the tradition of general education and collegiate system. On that basis, the University aims at becoming a vanguard in China’s higher education reform.

The University has engaged top talent from around the world and set up an assessment and compensation system commensurate with international practice. Professors from Princeton, MIT and other top universities have applied for jobs at CUHK (SZ). In addition, rapidly globalized Shenzhen has attracted international talent. Good staff quality not only benefit the students but also propel the long-term development of the University.

The currently available programmes at CUHK (SZ) cover Finance, Profession Accountancy, Global Business Studies, Marketing and Communication, Economics, Computer Science and Engineering, Electronic Information Engineering, New Energy Science and Engineering, Translation. “These disciplines are a result of massive data analysis to ensure sure we churn out high-end talent that society desperately needs. So the students won’t have difficulty finding a job and contributing to communities at large. These new interdisciplinary fields are critical in developing comprehensive capacity of our students.” said President Xu. He has set up five goals of talent training: social responsibility, critical thinking, mental and physical health, international vision and professional skills.

CUHK (SZ) has been established for over two years now. The “eldest” students in the University are junior ones. They have participated in competition and achieved good results. One case in point is the 2016 Pujiang Future Business Leader Case Analysis Competition for Chinese University Students where over sixty Chinese universities participated. CUHK (SZ) students competed with candidates from Fudan University and other elite universities and won the first place. During the OVAL International Business Contest for Students, thirty students from around the country were elected to enter the finals representing China, one third of whom was from CUHK (SZ) . “Their spirit, communication skills and leadership are better than other members. Same mainland students under different educational philosophy can be transformed into different talent.” One judge commented .

President Xu expressed his gratitude to all walks of people for their staunch support. Students from poor families or remote areas harbor a dream to receive international education and broaden their horizon. But the tuition fee and living expense can be a hurdle. Thanks to generous donations and valuable assistance from society, the University is able to offer them scholarship and financial aids to give them a chance to change their life. In 2016, over a hundred undergraduate freshmen received entrance scholarship. Among them, 21 students from poor or remote areas in Midwestern China received a total of over 4.2 million financial aids for their four-year study.

To show his gratitude, President Xu presented Tung his calligraphy work “聚天地之精华，为万世开太平”, implying that with help from society, CUHK (SZ) would focus on educating talent to contribute to communities.

Finally, Tung and other guests visited the Library, President’s Bookshelf and other places. The University just launched the inauguration ceremony on September 4, and the Library was packed with students studying for the new term. Tung actively communicated with the students and encouraged them to seize the moment and work hard to achieve their dreams.